News from South Africa

New $25 mln fund launched to grow African agriculture A mango project in Burkina Faso exporting to Europe will receive the first grant from a new $25 million agriculture fund launched on Thursday that is ... USAID to Announce Agriculture Fast Track Fund At Grow Africa Investment Forum U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Rajiv Shah will join African Development Bank (AfDB) President Donald Kaberuka and Swe... South Africa: Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Meets Her German Counterpart South African Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ms Tina Joemat-Pettersson held a bilateral meeting with the German Minister of Food, Ag... South Africa: Agriculture Offers Real Growth Potential Although structural impediments such as poor logistics render the search for new avenues of deeper intra-African trade challenging' there is an immedi... SA Government: North West Agriculture and Rural Development rolls out vaccination of domestic animals The North West Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has in its bid to commemorate April as Animal Health month, intensified the provision o... South African farmers team up with predecessors RECLAIMING land seized during white minority rule was a dream come true for black families in the South African farming town of Malelane. But the comm... Warning for agriculture minister Durban - Members of parliament have finally run out of patience with Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson and her poorly... SA moves to protect agriculture from EU imports In an effort to protect South Africa’s agricultural sector from European Union (EU) imports, the International Trade Administration (Itac) has publish... New bird-flu outbreak on Western Cape ostrich farm A type of bird flu has been detected on an ostrich farm near Oudtshoorn, Western Cape agriculture MEC Gerrit van Rensburg said on Tuesday. "The tes... Traces of human DNA in meat products ‘quite likely’ The possibility of finding human deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in meat products was quite likely as abattoir workers were continually cutting themselves... Land reform ‘key to jobs, food security’, says Ramphele If the land reform process was properly conducted, it would lead to job creation and enhanced food security, Mamphela Ramphele, leader of the politica... State ‘owns 14% of land in SA’ The government owns about 14% of all land holdings in South Africa, according to the provisional results of a land audit conducted by the office of th... Loss of wild bees hits agriculture Falling numbers of wild bees and other pollinating insects are hurting global agriculture, a study released on Thursday found. Managed populations ... South Africa study finds donkey meat sold as beef Donkey, water buffalo and goat meat have been sold as burgers and sausages in South Africa, a study says. A study published by the local Stellenbos... SA officials to get bird flu training More South African officials will be trained in the United States to deal with bird flu in poultry, an official said on Monday. Lightning kills 29 cattle Lightning struck and killed 29 head of cattle on the farm Booyzynkraal between Groblersdal and eMalahleni (Witbank) in Mpumalanga, according to a repo... S.Africa farm layoffs start two days after wage hike South African farmers have started laying off labourers just two days after the government raised the minimum wage for the sector by 50 percent in res... South Africa farm workers get 52 percent pay raise South African farm workers have received a 52 percent pay raise after a violent strike in the Western Cape region. Minister of Labor Mildred Olipha... Farmers must face reality of higher wages So far, only Western Cape farmers have been forced to face up to the reality of paying far higher wages in the near future. With the imminent annou... South African police shoot at striking farm workers South African police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to repel hundreds of rock-throwing farm workers on Thursday, during a second day of strike viol... Drought cripples Limpopo farmers The worst drought since 1983 has struck north-eastern Limpopo, killing more than 2 000 cattle and threatening to push the price of red meat to unprece... Farm workers wage demand unsustainable - AgriSA AgriSA says farm workers’ demands of a minimum wage of R150 per day are unsustainable. Table grape harvesters started protesting in De Doorns at th... South African farm workers gear for a day of protest Farm workers in South Africa’s Western Cape fruit-growing region will today embark on a one-day strike to push for higher wages, after talks with farm... Poultry producer Astral Foods feels the heat When it rains it pours for poultry producer Astral Foods, which the Competition Commission has slapped with a fine of almost R17m for anti-competitive... Farm strikes may lead to job losses - Mulder An "exorbitant" increase in the minimum wage for farmworkers will bring about job losses and mechanisation in the sector, Deputy Agriculture Minister ... Two dead in S.Africa farm-worker protests Violent protests by South African farm workers demanding wage hikes have left two people dead this week, police said Sunday, after the body of a seaso... From prisoner to thriving pig farmer When a 43-year-old North West man was arrested for armed robbery and served eight years in prison he thought his dream of becoming a successful busine... Zuma asked to intervene in volatile farming area Western Cape Premier Helen Zille has asked President Jacob Zuma to intervene in the De Doorns farmworkers' wage dispute, her office said on Tuesday. ... South Africa farmers strike for better pay South Africa's powerful trade union federation has called a national farming strike for Tuesday, in solidarity with the thousands of southwestern farm... Sugar group’s volumes up despite strike Agriculture business Tongaat Hulett has attributed the 28% growth in diluted headline earnings per share for the six months ended September to higher ... Agriculture minister to hold urgent meeting on De Doorns On Tuesday she planned to meet farmworker representatives in Cape Town, the Star reported. Her spokesperson Palesa Mokomele said on Monday that sh... Exotic crop offers way out of poverty Nine villages in the Eastern Cape have formed the country’s first co-operative that is swapping the communities’ agricultural land for bamboo plantati... Bamboo farmers ‘ need representation’ South African bamboo farmers should establish a representative body to lobby government departments and to involve them in the development of a bamboo... Ostrich cull grows as flu virus spreads SA’s beleaguered ostrich industry, already collapsing under a European Union (EU) export ban as it waits for at least three months for bird flu tests ... How should we use SA's land? A summit should be held to decide how land should best be allocated between food, infrastructure, and housing needs for the next 100 years, farmer uni... Maize surplus forecast cut sharply Poor rains have lowered the crop forecast for this year, with Grain SA predicting that a significantly reduced maize surplus of just 1-million tons — ... 'Cheap milk threatens industry' A drop in the producer price of milk announced by one of South Africa's purchasers could threaten the future of dairy farmers, the Milk Producers' Org... Top agriculture official placed on suspension The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced the suspension of director-general Langa Zita yesterday, but did not elaborate on the ... Technology ‘can boost jobs, production in agriculture sector’ The agriculture sector in SA needs to acquire the latest technology to reduce negative environmental impact practices and increase land productivity, ... AfDB supports South Africa's agriculture sector 1bn Rand credit to Land Bank The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) approved on Wednesday, a 1-billion South African rand (ZAR) (About USD 117 million) sove... Crocodile farmers want a bite at Europe South Africa’s small crocodile farming industry has high hopes of breaking into the lucrative European market by revising its husbandry practices and ... Limits on owners ‘no deterrent’ Moves to impose restrictions on foreign land ownership would not necessarily deter investment in SA, Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile... SA government accelerates land reforms The South African government is speeding up its plan to redistribute land to rightful owners, the official Bua news agency reported Sunday. "... German group invests in SA agriculture One of Europe’s largest development finance institutions, the German Investment Corporation (DEG), has acquired a 10% shareholding in South Afri... Bill Gates gives $56m to support smallholders Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) has recently received USD56m from Bill Melinda Gates Foundation to support millions of poor... Bank must repay farmers R3.6m interest The Land Bank had been ordered to repay five farmers R3.6 million for interest it overcharged them on loans, the Business Times reported yesterday. State must do more for farmers The government is doing very little to demonstrate that it has the vision and ability to resolve the overriding concerns about ownership of two key se... Challenge renews South African land issue Deputy Agriculture minister Pieter Mulder’s recent assertion that black South Africans had no historical claim to 40 per cent of the country bro... Chicken farmers want higher tariffs South African poultry producers want the import duty on Brazilian chicken to be increased by 3 rand ($0.38) a kilogram (2.2 pounds),... Bird flu empties South Africa's ostrich farms South Africa’s ostrich farmers are struggling to cope after thousands of their birds were culled during one of the country’s worst outbrea...