Inhaltsverzeichnis für 31-Jul 2015 in Farmer's Weekly

I started writing for Farmer’s Weekly about seven years ago. At that time, I was inclined to follow the school of thought which asserted that smallholder farming was a poverty trap, and that only large-scale, commercial farming could successfully respond to the challenge of feeding a fast-growing, rapidly-urbanising world population, while also coping with climate variability and resource scarcity. However, the more I learned about agriculture and the global food system, the less certain I became about what I thought I knew. In this week’s issue, we report on the recent Farmbiz AgriBusiness Africa Conference (see pg 15). At the conference, Pan African Farmers’ Organisation president, Dr Theo de Jager, a stalwart of organised and commercial agriculture in South Africa, referred to smallholder farming as a poverty-trap. Smallholder farming was…

Former McCarthy Group chief executive and author, Dr Brand Pretorius, has implored farmers and other stakeholders to discard their “laager mentality” and embrace the transformation process. He was speaking at the FarmBiz Agribusiness Africa Conference in Johannesburg recently. Offering guidelines for success in a fast-changing environment, Pretorius, whose book is titled In the Driving Seat: Lessons in Leadership, called on delegates to embrace change. “It’s the price of survival,” he said. Pretorius stressed that business leaders needed to adapt or risk becoming irrelevant. “You create dust or you eat dust,” he said. Leaders needed to overhaul their businesses on an ongoing basis to ensure the highest level of efficiency. “You must embrace [transformation]. We can’t afford a laager mentality. [Transformation] must be done in an orderly manner and include the…

Smallholder farming is a poverty trap, according to Theo de Jager, president of the Pan African Farmers’ Organisation. “Smallholder farming is a state of mind more than it is a state of agriculture,” De Jager told Farmer’s Weekly after a panel discussion on South Africa doing agribusiness in the rest of Africa. The discussion formed part of the FarmBiz Agribusiness Africa Conference held in Midrand recently. Placing his somewhat controversial statement in context, De Jager said that smallholders should be turned into entrepreneurs and taught how to grow their farming operations. He related the story of a Maasai subsistence farmer he met in Kenya a few years ago, who had 3 000 head of cattle but was reluctant to expand the operation by introducing cows into his herd, and selling…

The relatively high winter temperatures probably contributed to the ongoing occurrence of external livestock parasites and pests in the summer grain production areas of South Africa, Gerhard Verdoorn, head of the Griffon Poison Information Centre, said. His comments followed the Ruminant Veterinary Association of SA’s (RuVASA) June 2015 report, which indicated that tick infestation in SA livestock remained exceptionally high, despite the advent of winter. “The largest part of the country nevertheless experienced an exceptionally mild winter with below-average frost so far. I received reports from grain farmers regarding gerbil outbreaks as late as the end of June. It is unheard of,” Verdoorn said. Above-normal temperatures were forecast for the 2015 winter, according to SA Weather Service’s Cobus Olivier. Meanwhile, Bloemfontein weather forecaster Michael Nethabane said a cutoff low with…

South Africa is expected to produce 75% of all tangerine exports in the southern hemisphere, according to statistics by Wessel Lemmer, Absa Agribusiness’ senior agricultural economist. Argentina is expected to export 18%, Australia 6% and Brazil and Chile 1%. Paul Visagie of the RSA Group Market Agents said a new mandarin cultivar from Morocco grown locally, Sweet C, had increased sales tenfold in the past 10 years. The seedless mandarin had taken over the traditional Emperor Mandarin market. “It is easily storable and can remain outside refrigerated storage for a month without rotting. It only becomes sweeter. Some African markets do not always have the desired storage facilities and the Sweet C is becoming very popular in these areas,” Visagie said. About 2,3 million cartons of mandarins have been packed…

Agribusiness VKB, situated in Reitz, has successfully applied to the Competition Tribunal to secure a majority share in the Kromdraai Group in Frankfort. Kromdraai Best Milling, consisting of a wheat mill, bakery and silos, produces high-quality wheat flour and bread. “This transaction forms part of our strategic vision to invest in the agricultural value chain,” Koos van Rensburg, VKB CEO, said in a statement. He added that VKB was ideally positioned to add value to primary agricultural production through the processing of yellow and white maize, soya beans and wheat. The company was committed to expanding the newly-acquired facility through a capital injection, grain procurement and market access to a successful VKB filial. “We honour the De Jager family who has built this company from scratch to a business that…

Newly-detected cases of avian influenza on two ostrich farms in the Eastern Cape and another two in the Klein Karoo were not a cause for major concern, according to Piet Klein, CEO of the SA Ostrich Business Chamber (SAOBC). Klein told Farmer’s Weekly that ostriches on these farms had tested positive only for the low pathogenic type and not the highly pathogenic strain of the disease. This was confirmed by Dr Gininda Msiza, director of veterinary services in the Western Cape. Klein said he was relieved that these cases had been detected, as it indicated that processes adopted since the major outbreak in 2011 to contain the disease were working. Chances were therefore good that the European Union’s (EU) ban on fresh ostrich meat would be lifted by December. “We…

A hawker by profession. That’s how Gugu Mlipha (38) describes herself, tongue in cheek. Her “entrepreneurial passion”, as she describes it, started at age 12. “I sold vegetables at taxi ranks at Embabane near Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal, where I was raised by my grandmother. I’d bunk school just to do so,” she recalls. Today, she runs the R2,4 million/annum farming and agroprocessing business Gugu & Daughters Farming in Walkerville near Vereeniging in Midvaal. Gugu came to the bright lights of Johannesburg in the early 1990s and stayed in Katlehong with her teacher mother, who had encouraged her to “come get a better education”. Gugu obliged, matriculating from Dawn View High School in 1995 and later graduating with a diploma in banking from Damelin. This landed her a job in the…

Light commercial vehicles have been built alongside passenger cars almost from the start of the motor industry. Called bakkies in South Africa, pickups in the US and utes in Australia, they are ideal for farmers and small businesses, and until the 1980s remained basic workhorses without any frills. In the last 25 years or so, this has changed, thanks largely to the introduction of double-cabs and 4x4 variants. The result is that these vehicles have expanded their appeal and now sell in huge numbers to city dwellers as replacements for family cars, or as second cars. This broadening of the customer base has in turn led to the addition of luxury features, more comfortable suspensions, an increase in power output and less practical bodywork. Some of the latest models are…

Dear Jonno I have been following your columns every week and decided to get in touch with you. I recently saw your plan for a farmhouse in KwaZulu-Natal for a businessman and his partner [Farmer’s Weekly, 17 April 2015]. I reside in Namibia’s Caprivi Strip and would like you to suggest a plan, similar to the one I’ve attached, for a house on my small farm. The home will be for a single family, and have two bedrooms and a study, as I work from home. I need working drawings of the plan as I am arranging for the contractor to survey the area and do preparations as necessary. Regards Cosma Dear Cosma Thank you for the telephone call where you provided more details for your new home requirements. As…

“South African farmers have all, to varying degrees, experienced the effects of globalisation – the rapid change in the global economic and trade environment. The World Trade Organisation has promoted this concept to a great extent, starting with the Uruguay round of agreements in 1994. Here, a strategy was initiated to liberalise agricultural trade worldwide to stimulate economic growth. South Africa has also experienced considerable change, both economically and politically. Since 1994, the country has seen the deregulation of local markets, increased global competition, land reform, agricultural black economic empowerment (agriBEE), fairly inflexible labour legislation, minimum wages, property taxes, agricultural extension being focused on small-scale farmers, power outages, and a volatile and depreciating currency. South Africa’s commercial farmers have probably been among the most affected as they are at the…

4 JANUARY 1956 Answers to farmyard problems 59 YEARS AGO As South Africa’s only weekly magazine in the early part of the past century, Farmer’s Weekly attracted a huge volume of correspondence from farmers seeking answers to their problems. These filled many pages of each weekly issue. Below are four of the inquiries which were dealt with on a page of our issue of the above date and to which our veterinary consultant replied. Question: Are pigs and dogs susceptible to lumpy-skin disease? Can cattle be inoculated against this scourge? Answer: Dogs and pigs are not susceptible to this disease. To my knowledge, only cattle can become clinically infected, though it is possible that game may harbour the virus. A vaccine has been produced, but unfortunately does not seem to…

Government has set aside R2 billion to implement its ambitious Agricultural Policy Action Plan (APAP) over three years, according to Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Senzeni Zokwana, APAP would bring one million hectares of the country’s under-utilised land into full production, Zokwana said at the FarmBiz Agribusiness Africa Conference. The policy was aimed at revitalising agriculture and the agro-processing value chain, among other things. It was approved by President Jacob Zuma’s cabinet in March. However, Zokwana assured farmers that no land would be grabbed as they were working with the private sector to implement the policy. They were targeting land in most poverty-stricken areas and projects to benefit the poor would be based at 44 sites, he said. Zokwana bemoaned the fact that large quantities of food were being…

The National Development Plan (NDP), the country’s blueprint for addressing socio-economic challenges, is one of the best pieces of legislation ever written in South Africa. This is according to Justice Malala, political analyst and presenter of eNCA’s Justice Factor programme. Malala delivered the keynote address at the FarmBiz Agribusiness Africa Conference in Midrand recently. About 93% of South Africa’s members of Parliament supported the NDP, with the exception of the Economic Freedom Fighters, he said. “Why [then] is it being implemented so slowly?” he asked and bemoaned the fact that the economy grew by a mere 1,5% last year, and that 8,3 million South Africans, out of a population of 53 million, were unemployed. Of the 8,3 million, 67% were black males aged between 15 and 24. “Over the past…

Mexico posted a $1,45 billion (R17,9 billion) agricultural trade surplus for the first five months of 2015, the country’s Agricultural, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food Secretariat said, according to media reports. A 5,1% increase in exports and an 8,2% drop in imports between January and May resulted in one of the biggest trade surpluses in the agricultural sector in recent years, the secretariat said. Farm exports were valued at $12,02 billion (R149 billion), while imports came in at $10,57 billion (R131 billion), according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography. Exports of cattle rose the fastest in the five-month period, skyrocketing 70%, followed by melons, watermelons and papaya, which increased by 45,8%.…

The sale of no-till equipment has risen substantially, according to statistics released by Wessel Lemmer, senior agricultural economist at Absa AgriBusiness, at the recent Absa Roundtable in Johannesburg. By not ploughing and not using mechanical weed control, farmers could save up to 70% on labour costs, use 60% less tractor-hours, roughly 60% less fuel and save 60% on maintenance costs, a study by Dr Hendrik Smith, conservation agriculture facilitator at Grain SA said. Cover crops, specifically legumes, could add up to 250kg of soil nitrogen (N) per hectare annually, amounting to cost savings of over R2 000/ha on N fertilisers. Compared with monocropped farming systems, crop diversity and rotation could also reduce weed seed banks and crop losses due to insect pests and diseases, and lead to a reduction in…

A recent report by the International Labour Organisation blamed government for the poor progress made in improving the livelihoods of farm workers. State interventions aimed at improving the livelihoods of farm workers since 1994 had failed because they did not appreciate that the fortunes of workers and producers were interlinked, according to the report. Market deregulation and trade liberalisation had rendered farmers financially vulnerable, the report read. Agricultural marketing boards and single marketing systems had been phased out, making it increasingly difficult for farmers to compete with powerful supermarkets, while trade liberalisation resulted in the phasing-out of tariff protection and decreases in farm subsidisation. Producer support had shrunk to less than 3% since 1994, well below the 20% average of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the report stated.…

The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development is finalising a Magistrates’ Court Amendment Bill to curb the abuse of the debt recovery procedure. This was after Judge Siraj Desai of the Western Cape High Court ruled that the system of emolument attachment orders (EAOs), also known as garnishee orders, was inconsistent with the Constitution as it provided no judicial oversight. Mathilda Rosslee of the Legal Aid Clinic at Stellenbosch University, the institution that brought the class act responsible for the judgement to court, was happy with the outcome. She said she hoped that a new bill would be created to prevent people from simply issuing an emolument attachment order at a court, without sufficient scrutiny of the underlying documents, and that creditors in future would not be allowed to obtain…

Veterinary services in the Western Cape has requested the government to compensate Appie Viviers to cull animals that had contracted brucellosis on his farm Boeteka near Beaufort West, irrespective of whether they had the melitensis strain or not. Dr Gininda Msiza, director of veterinary services in the province, said they could not wait for the results of the typing test any longer. “We need to get rid of the animals before the disease spreads to other farms or more people become infected,” Msiza said. Infected animals could either be destroyed depending on the contamination risk, or the meat could be sold. The first problem, however, was that there was a small market for goat meat – Boer goats were usually sold live for traditional purposes. So far, 300 of Vivers’s…

The sustainable intensification of agriculture had to be accelerated to support growing population numbers and reduce food waste. This was according to the findings of a study into the health of the planet by the Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission on Planetary Health released in Johannesburg recently. Speaking at the event, Prof Linus Opara, the SA Research Chair in Postharvest Technology at the Faculty of AgriSciences at Stellenbosch University, said sustainable intensification of agriculture was the best way to minimise the sector’s environmental footprint, as well as improve yield and productivity of land. “The danger is that fewer people are farming and we need to feed more people. This is why we need to move away from traditional approaches to agriculture and farm more efficiently, using the best technology.” This could include…

Emerging farmers in the Eastern Cape are set to benefit from an agreement between the provincial government and Boxer Superstores to boost local procurement. The deal between the EC Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform and the supermarket chain, signed in Durban recently, would see all 37 Boxer Superstores in the province procuring fresh produce from local farmers in the towns they operated in, according to spokesperson Mvusiwekhaya Sicwetsha. Farmers would supply vegetables in the short term while the department considered expanding to red meat, poultry, milk and fruit in the long term, according to Sicwetsha. “Both government and Boxer Superstores will work with the farmers to ensure that produce from farms is safe by using existing security checks and guarantees for all produce sold in the stores,” Sicwetsha…

Commercial sunflowers have a narrow genetic basis which up till recently has made breeding laborious and hampered research. New techniques now enable the breeding process to be sped up. Selection by Russian researchers succeeded in providing high oil varieties. Developing sunflower hybrids with improved performance and disease resistance came after the discovery of a male sterility gene in 1969. All hybrid seed is now produced by crossing a male sterile female parent line with a pollen-producing male parent carrying a fertility restorer gene. Bees are used as pollen carriers, so the hybrid is fully fertile. Hybridising cultivated and wild sunflower and overcoming the natural tendency for seed abortion by way of embryo rescue is a conventional technique for accessing wild species’ genes. Immature embryos were removed and raised in the…

A number of legal questions were raised during Fastjet Holdings v the Commissioner SARS, (case number 64901/2013), in which the High Court delivered judgement on 25 June 2015. Of these, two issues stand out for business owners: • If you make a ‘factual statement’, ensure the evidence supports your assertion in a practical manner, as this can make or break a case. • If you allege in an affidavit that certain actions will take place, give good reasons for your views. In the case cited, the applicant (Fastjet Holdings) imported two million cigarettes from Zimbabwe in 2012. After the customs and excise duties were paid, the cigarettes were ‘seized and detained’. There were two problems. The first had to do with the packaging. The second was the fact that a…

Ludwig Taschner has always attempted to breed roses that are adapted to South African conditions – an idea inspired by the country’s most popular rose, the Iceberg. On first seeing the Kordes variety at Buss Nurseries at Kameeldrift on the outskirts of Pretoria, he took note of its ability to thrive in South African conditions by regenerating itself from old wood. “Over the last 100 years, every instruction has always said you must cut your roses down. So in pruning, you rejuvenate your plants every year,’’ he explains. “But with the Iceberg’s strong woody stems, they survived in the coldest place and kept on growing and flowering. This is a genetic thing – it resprouts from the old wood.’’ Over the years, Ludwig has studied his genetic stock of over…

WORLD BOER GOAT CHAMPIONS WORLD KALAHARI RED CHAMPIONS CONTACTS Jac Jordaan 083 619 3535 Lukas Burger 082 856 1458 Tollie Jordaan 082 499 6609 Anton Bothma 071 969 1680…

Soil health has a profound impact on the sustainability and profitability of any farming business. It also affects the quality, quantity and nutritional value of the food that farmers produce. Many factors contribute to the development and maintenance of a healthy soil. One of the most important involves effective management of the minerals in soil, and achieving this will result in optimum nutrition for utilisation by crops. “Crop nutrition should never involve guesswork. Informed nutrition is essential to avoid driving blind,” says Graeme Sait, CEO of Nutri-Tech Solutions in Australia. There is a specific balance between soil minerals that determines a soil’s productivity, and farmers should always work with laboratories or consultants that have a key understanding of how to achieve this productive state of balance, he says. ‘GOOD SOIL…

A resurgence of interest in equipment for small-scale farming has seen the rebirth of machines that were first on the scene more than 50 years ago, such as the single-chop forage harvester. This type of machine can be used for direct harvesting of silage and green crops, blowing the cut crop directly into a trailer. The Ilgi unit (above) has a working width of 1 300mm and claims to be able to harvest about 16t/hour behind a 30kW tractor at a working speed of up to 10km/h.…

We live in a time when we need to tighten the belt, as they say, because we cannot afford any excesses on the farm. Things are quite tough at the moment, what with the weather patterns and the state of the economy. We really need to farm smartly. Early this morning, while reading my Agricultural Manual (the Bible), I came across a passage where the Lord Jesus speaks about causing offence. He says that we need to be very careful about how we live our lives. In fact, the Lord says that if our hand causes offence we need to cut it off, because it is better to go to Heaven with one hand than to Hell with two. STRIVE TO LIVE DILIGENTLY Matthew 18:8 puts it like this: “If…

As most readers of this column will know, Skype enables you to keep in touch with friends and family anywhere in the world – for free. All you need is an Internet connection. It will even function with a relatively weak Internet connection employing a dongle and a cellphone network, such as many farmers are forced to use. With a slower connection, the video picture may not work properly, but the sound will still be audible, albeit with a slight time delay. And using Skype without the video is hardly a problem it is exactly the same as making an ordinary telephone call. The app can be downloaded at skype.com or your app store. INSTANT TRANSLATION Recently, Skype released its translator app. Intended for Windows 8, it closes the communication…

The world over, state-run post offices are in trouble as they compete with digital communication as well as more efficient private enterprise. The national post office strike (is it really over?) simply helped to strengthen courier and other postal services and to hasten the end of the Post Office as we know it. Cities might not be affected that badly. Many businesses stopped using the cash-strapped SA Post Office long ago, having realised they can do without it in the same way they are learning to get by without Eskom power or Telkom landlines. Yet one can hardly imagine a rural town without a post office, along with its rows of mail boxes and friendly postmasters/mistresses who are on duty whether the rest of the country is striking or not.…

Congestion and deteriorating road quality as a result of higher car ownership and increasing freight volumes were hampering economic growth, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s (OECD) recently released report on South Africa. A Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) survey released in 2013, indicated that roads in the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga were in the poorest condition. The road maintenance backlog was estimated to be R78 billion in 2010, nearly 3% of GDP. Poor maintenance was most evident at local government level, the OECD report said. The lack of investment in provincial roads had increased businesses’ road usage expenses, with 1,9% higher fuel consumption, 2,2% higher tyre costs and 10,6% higher vehicle repair and maintenance costs, according to the CSIR report. Wear and tear…

African sugar production and processing group, Illovo Sugar, would increasingly implement its continual improvement culture across its operations. This was to turn around what the group’s chairperson has described as a “disappointing” 2014/2015 financial year. Speaking recently at Illovo’s 2015 annual general meeting before retiring as the chairperson, Don MacLeod said that the group’s 2014/2015 operating profit of R1 655 billion had been 12,3% lower than that of the 2013/2014 financial year. Highlighting how Illovo was planning on growing its profitability for the following financial year, MacLeod said that one step would be for the group to focus on opportunities in both its consumer and industrial domestic markets as well as on growing its African regional markets. He added that Illovo would continue to pursue downstream investments to enhance and…

The UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) forecast that the global demand for meat and dairy products would receive a major boost in the next decade due to changing diets in the emerging countries. This would result in grain supply shifting towards livestock feed as “use of crop-based biofuel is curbed by lower oil prices”, the institutions said. In their annual Agricultural Outlook report, they confirmed a broad trend of moderate food prices set out last year “due to production gains and less vigorous demand”. Prices of major agricultural products were set to decline in real terms over 2014/2015, although they would remain above levels seen before a surge in 2007/2008 that heralded a period of high volatility. “We see consumption of…

Domestic petrol and diesel prices are expected to decrease by 35c/l and 61c/l respectively on 5 August. Producers who had started with primary soil preparation ahead of the new season would benefit from the decrease, according to Wessel Lemmer, senior agricultural economist at Absa Agribusiness. Going into the new season, soil moisture content in many production areas was much lower due to drought. “This will make primary land preparation more expensive,” Lemmer said. A reduction in the price of fuel would lower production costs as farmers would spend less on fuel needed to prepare dry soil. Looking ahead, the fuel price could decline further if the rand remained at around R12,42/US$ and brent crude oil continued to trade below US$60/barrel, according to Grain SA economist, Wandile Sihlobo. The rand had…

A potato needed 18,3l of water to grow to an average size of 150g while an orange of the same size needed 80l. This was according to Prof Martin Steyn from the University of Pretoria, in a presentation on ‘potato water productivity: current status and future prospects’ during the Potatoes SA research symposium in Limpopo recently. Steyn said that crop production was under pressure to use less water. Globally, 60% to 70% of all freshwater resources were used for the irrigation of crops. Cereals accounted for 61% of crops under irrigation in South Africa while vegetables accounted for 10%, oil crops 7% and fruits 6%, said Steyn. About 80% of all potato plantings were under irrigation due to the “high economic risk of rainfed production”. Potatoes were produced in 16…

The potato industry has been urged to brace itself for the dreaded Tuta absoluta (tomato leaf miner moth) pest, should it spread to the southernmost tip of the African continent. “If it arrives, we should be prepared. It’s not in our country yet but it can arrive any minute,” said Dr Diedrich Visser of the ARCRoodeplaat Vegetable and Ornamental Plant Institute. He was speaking at the recent Potatoes SA research symposium in Bela-Bela, Limpopo. Visser said the leaf miner moth had been discovered in Europe in 2006 and had slowly spread to Africa. The pest was similar to the potato tuber moth and did “the same kind of damage”. In tomatoes, it resulted in 100% yield loss, “so it must be taken seriously”. He said that there were confirmed cases…

Willow Creek Olive Estate in the Nuy Valley, Western Cape, was recently ranked 33rd on the list of Top 100 Olive Oil Producers. The estate’s 2014 Directors’ Reserve achieved the 95th position on the Extra Virgin Olive Oils list. The lists were compiled by the international association, World Ranking Extra Virgin Olive Oils. Louise Rabie, brand manager of Willow Creek, ascribed the estate’s success to a combination of factors, such as an ideal terroir for top quality olives and olive oil. “The farm’s soil is rich in lime and the region has a low rainfall and Mediterranean climate with warm dry summers and cold winters,” she said. The farm is also irrigated, ensuring that trees receive the optimal volume of water at the right time. In addition, Willow Creek Olive…

The scourge of farm attacks in KwaZulu-Natal has necessitated the active, ongoing participation of all stakeholders in awareness campaigns and meetings with the police. This was the view of the KZN Agricultural Union (Kwanalu) in response to an enquiry from Farmer’s Weekly. Kwanalu recorded a total of 22 farm attacks across the province, three of which resulted in murder, between 1 January and 20 July this year. Five murders were also reported in 30 attacks during 2014, 10 murders in 47 attacks in 2013, four murders in 45 attacks in 2012, and one murder in 36 attacks in 2011. “Obviously we’re concerned about every farm attack and murder which occurs. However, we must ensure that we continue to work within the framework which was approved. Furthermore, we’re pleased that farm…

The government’s plans to build up to nine nuclear power stations, ostensibly along the country’s coastline, have received mixed reactions from the agricultural sectors in two of the provinces where these might be built. A recent update from the Department of Energy (DoE) said that it intended to have 9 600MW of electricity from nuclear energy by 2030. The farmers’ unions, Agri Wes-Cape and Agri Eastern Cape (Agri EC) respectively, separately agreed that using nuclear energy to produce electricity for South Africa’s currently strained power-grid was a “cleaner” option than coal or diesel-fired power stations. However, both unions were under no illusions as to the potentially devastating and widespread humanitarian and environmental consequences of a catastrophic failure at a nuclear power station. Agri Wes-Cape’s CEO Carl Opperman said if the…

After the Great Depression of 1933, economists such as John Maynard Keynes asserted that ‘depressions’ are unlikely to correct themselves – they need government intervention to correct the imbalance between supply and demand. In 2008, governments knew exactly how to get their economies out of the recession. They increased direct spending in the economy. In the main, it worked. Global economic growth accelerated from -6,8% in 2008 to 5,8% in the first quarter of 2010. Unfortunately, this higher growth did not continue. The private sector was too slow in taking over government’s role and start investing in the economy. By 2013, global growth was down to 3%, while the US recorded 2,2% and the eurozone -0,4%. This created serious problems for over-extended governments who had to repay huge loans caused…

What is traceability? Traceability is a mechanism that keeps track of the route that beef (or any meat) takes from the farm to the consumer’s plate. This means that if a consumer buys a steak, for example, he or she can ascertain the specific farm where the cattle were farmed, the farming practices and health regime that were used, and the feedlot and abattoir that the animals were sent to. This allows the consumer to make informed choices. South African consumers are not yet fully aware of the benefits of a traceability system. So it is heartening that an organisation such as the SA National Consumer Union is starting to push for the system to be available here. Traceability will also go a long way towards combating the spread of…

CONTACTS Gawie and Willem Naudé 082 775 7067 Arina Petit 083 230 0827 Deon and Machel van Niekerk 083 411 6963 Ina and Ne-Lize van Aswegen 082 920 6378…

Work is underway to revive South Africa’s chicory industry. Nestlé SA, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Eastern Cape provincial government will be collaborating on this initiative (click on this link to the Farmer’s Weekly website: bit.ly/1g1mvRR). Nestlé SA is to provide technical support to ensure the quality of chicory produced in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. “This is a long-term commitment of five years with the DTI to limit imports and encourage local procurement in South Africa,” said Nestlé spokesperson Ravi Pillay. In this article, we look at the basics of chicory production. In South Africa, chicory (Cichorium spp) is grown almost solely for the root. This is cut into cubes which are dried, roasted and milled and used for blending with coffee. Chicory is also…

I recently visited Harare with Prof Charles Whitehead from the University of Johannesburg for a two-day Banana Ripening and Post-harvest Physiology workshop for the employees of a large Zimbabwe-based farming company. Despite what we hear of the turmoil in that wonderful country, people are still managing – with difficulty at times – to run businesses and somehow survive. Our hosts have a number of distribution centres around Zimbabwe as well as in Zambia and Mozambique. They specialise in bananas – from their own farms as well as others – but also distribute local apples and citrus. QUALITY FRUIT Three things became immediately apparent to Whitehead and me. Firstly, these farmers make do with what they have. Secondly, they don’t have a sophisticated infrastructure. And thirdly, despite these difficulties, the quality…

After extensive testing of prototypes and pre-production models, including long spells cutting the grass surrounds of both the Pietermaritzburg and King Shaka airports, the Falcon Flexwing 4500 (below right) is finally on the market. The decision to manufacture a Flexwing locally was motivated by the increasing price of imported machines. Moreover, the 4500 boasts several exclusive features to cope with the requirements of the SA market. These include a unique leaf spring suspension to combat the stress caused by the unforgiving local terrain and the solid tyres necessary to cope with fierce African thorns. A fully articulating drawbar hitch prevents undue stress on the tractor. Folding the ‘wings’ and setting the cutting height are both controlled hydraulically from the tractor seat. The Flexwing cuts 4,5m wide and folds to a…

In these days of fluctuating petrol and diesel prices, many people hedge against high prices by filling up when the price is low, with some laying in an extra supply in suitable containers. There are also those people on long overland journeys beyond our borders, where filling stations are few and far in between. Both have a common need: a convenient and safe container to store fuel. WHAT’S IN A CAN? Fuel containers come in two main types and are made of two different materials – polyethylene and steel. The latter is the traditional jerrycan, a venerable carry-over from the Second World War. Dating back three-quarters of a century and never improved upon, it is still the standard today. Each type has its own characteristics, advantages and disadvantages, and share…

Working with horses as well as being the mother of two young children, I have a very active and demanding lifestyle. I recently began searching for a supplement that could help my body keep up with the pace. It was then that I came across a little miracle of nature: moringa (Moringa oleifera). This little powerhouse of a tree is now growing in my garden. It requires protection against frost but is drought-resistant. I have since discovered that dehydrated moringa leaves are an excellent source of nutrition in horses. They have all the essential amino acids, beneficial fats and omega oils, and are high in potassium, fibre, calcium, iron and Vitamin C. In short, they are a top-rate supplement for helping to keep your horse’s immune system healthy. Moringa powder…

Many South Africans will remember the ‘African potato’ that was touted some years ago as an amazing ‘medicinal plant’. Those who started research on it discovered that certain plant fats in the potato were responsible for its healing power. Dr Patrick Bouic, a medical researcher at Stellenbosch University, eventually isolated these fats and today they are available as a supplement called ‘Moducare’. The main reason for taking these sterols and sterolins as a supplement is that, while they occur naturally in many plant foods, the fats are so closely bound to plant fibres that only a small amount will be ingested through one’s diet. The sterols and sterolins have the ability to modulate imbalances in the immune system, and it is claimed that most of the serious long-term auto-immune diseases…

THE NEW ONE-MINUTE MANAGER  by Ken Blanchard & Spencer Johnson (Thorsons Classics, R175) Co-writer Johnson was, of course, the author of Who Moved My Cheese? which was published in 1998 and entrenched itself as a standard for many of those trying to cope with change. The original One-Minute Manager was first published in 1982, and went on to sell more than 13 million copies. Its one-minute goals, praises and reprimands have been updated with reprimands now called ‘re-directs’. The short sections make this ideal daily reading, regardless of how many or how few staff you have to manage – or whether you need help managing yourself. WALKING THE NILE  by Levison Wood (Simon & Schuster, R300) Former British soldier Wood decided to walk the Nile from its Rwandan source to…