Table of contents for 18 September 2020 in Farmer's Weekly

August has passed and with it we bid goodbye to the month which, every year, is marked by numerous overtures to women, some earnest and some opportunistic, as companies, organisations and government endeavour to celebrate the role of women in society, and to highlight the challenges they still face in their work and personal lives. I am generally cautious of participating in anything that deals with the achievements or experiences of women in a ring-fenced kind of way. This is because I believe we must be careful of creating a separate kind of narrative and domain of success where we celebrate women for their achievements compared only with other women, rather than rating their achievements against a full spectrum of their peers, both male and female. It is so important…

News that Standard Chartered Bank is suing the Land Bank to recover its funds is a stark reminder of the vulnerability of South African agriculture. Holding something in the region of a quarter of farming debt, the Land Bank is a critically important institution for the farming economy. Its credit rating downgrade and its inability to service its debts are threats to its operations, the farmers who depend on it and the food supply of the country. For this reason, Cabinet agreed to a ‘recapitalisation’ of some R3 billion in the Supplementary Budget. ‘SA’S FOOD SECURITY NEEDS A ROBUST LAND BANK’ The Land Bank’s current difficulties remind us that the sustainability of South African agriculture cannot be assured by the state or state-owned entities on their own. The willingness of…

Urban agriculture can play a critical role, especially in communities that are regarded as resource-poor. This was according to Dorah Marema, director of GenderCC and member of the C19 Food Working Group. She was a speaker during a webinar titled ‘Food security and COVID-19: Is urban agriculture the long-term solution to the food crisis?’, hosted by the Centre of Excellence in Food Security. Marema said urban agriculture could play a significant role in providing nutritious food for these communities, but stressed that the necessary support and information was needed. In addition to providing nutritional food, Marema said urban agriculture could also play a role in creating “dignified sustainable livelihoods”. “C19 worked with households and community groups that have been doing urban agriculture for a while in 12 communities in Johannesburg.…

RCL Foods has reported strong growth and cash generation for its financial year ended 30 June 2020. However, the group intended to focus on strategic diversification projects to further strengthen its position “in a COVID-19 world”. RCL Foods’ latest financial report said that despite the group’s best efforts to protect itself from the impact of the COVID-19-related national lockdown, the business was still directly negatively affected to the tune of R266,8 million. The most profound of these were on the chicken and Vector Logistics businesses, due to the closure of quick-service restaurants for close to two months. With the lockdown mostly occurring in its fourth quarter, the group was able to grow revenue 7,4% to R27,8 billion (2019: R25,9 billion); and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation by 7,2%…

INDIA Banana exports from Andhra Pradesh have seen rapid growth over the last year, with exports rising over 143% compared with the previous season. The banana has been identified as one of the growth-engine crops of the state, according to Freshplaza.com, as it stands first in terms of area and production. The area under production has increased from 79 000ha in 2014/2015 to 103 000ha in 2019/2020. The Green Cavendish bananas were exported to the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Bahrain and Egypt. NORTHERN EUROPE COVID-19 and spring frost will negatively affect blueberry production in Northern Europe, according to Fred Douvan, CEO of abbGrowers, a major blueberry producer in Serbia. “Volumes are as much as 50% lower,” he said. Despite the decrease in volumes, prices were fairly stable compared with…

Despite four successive quarters of negative economic growth, dairy products have retained a distinctive place in consumers’ shopping baskets, according to the Milk Producers’ Organisation (MPO). Bertus van Heerden, chief economist at the MPO, said the latest statistics for the producer price index of unprocessed milk and dairy products, and the consumer price index of milk, cheese and eggs, sent a strong price signal that retail prices had risen significantly during the first six months of the year. Van Heerden added that the farm-gate price of unprocessed milk had increased more slowly since August 2017, compared with the secondary and tertiary industries. “In August 2020, the producer price for unprocessed milk stood at the same level as in August 2017. The producer price for unprocessed milk is still lagging behind…

Women in agriculture are still battling the perception that farming is a ‘man’s job.’ This emerged during a recent webinar that focused on the challenges women faced in agriculture, which was hosted by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture (agriculture department). A recent study conducted on gender equality in agriculture in South Africa revealed that perception was still a major problem, said Werner van Dyk, audit manager of the Sustainability Initiative of South Africa. “The research outlined the extent to which gender roles have changed in recent years and identified areas in which improvements can be made to eliminate possible barriers that might still exist.” He added that the study showed that culture or patriarchal and traditional values still influenced the perception of gender roles. “Women who are expected to…

Farmers requiring financing from the Land Bank in the near future will encounter difficulties in accessing such funding due to the bank’s current liquidity challenges. In addition, it would mean that other commercial banks offering agriculture funding had to “pick up the slack”, said Dawie Roodt, economist at Efficient Group. This followed an announcement in August that Standard Chartered Bank had served an urgent application on the Land Bank to recover a “certain debt” from the former, the Land Bank said in statement on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s news service. Farmer’s Weekly previously reported that the Land Bank was facing challenges with regard to liquidity. In April, the state-owned agricultural lender defaulted on repayments of debt to the value of R50 billion, leaving the South African government liable for about…

Good downpours and low temperatures experienced across parts of the Western Cape this winter, bodes well for the province’s horticulture industry. “The frequent cold fronts that have occurred in the Western Cape, characterised by low temperatures, rain and snow, are very positive in terms of wine grape cultivation,” said Etienne Terblanche, a viticulturist at Vinpro. According to Terblanche, the cold weather was beneficial as it allowed the vines to remain dormant during winter, avoiding the use of important reserves they would need for new growth when the weather warmed up during spring. He added that, apart from good penetrating rainfall that replenished soil profiles and increased the run-off to dams, the snow also made a large contribution to soil water levels. He pointed out that soils in warmer and drier…

Infectious ophthalmia (pink eye) is a very common condition in small-stock species. The illness is caused by highly infectious Chlamydia spp or Mycoplasma spp bacteria, and one or both eyes can be affected. Animals suffering from this often go off their feed and can lose condition rapidly, and infected ewes with lambs or kids at foot may produce less milk or abandon their offspring. In addition, small-stock with infected eyes make a poor impression on potential buyers and tend to fetch lower prices. An outbreak of infectious ophthalmia typically affects between 10% and 15% of a flock, but in a severe outbreak up to 50% or even more of animals can be infected. It’s therefore important to be proactive and inspect your animals regularly. The causes of the condition include…

Between 115 000 and 11 700 years ago, the Earth would have been almost unrecognisable. Massive ice sheets covered Northern Europe and Northern Asia, and about half of North America, and global sea levels were as much as 130m lower than today. In this period, known as the Last Glacial Period, the climate was much cooler and drier than today. It was punctuated by some of the largest and most rapid climate change events in Earth’s recent geological history. For a long time, scientists have pondered how closely timed these abrupt climate change events were between Greenland and other regions of the world, far beyond the Arctic. In our research, published in August in the journal Science, we show that abrupt climate changes across the Northern Hemisphere and into the…

Kgomotso Bantsho, a cattle farmer in Vorstershoop in North West, says his aim is to produce weaners with heavy carcass weights within the shortest period possible. He does this through careful selection for proven genetics and by placing emphasis on using top bulls. Bantsho first started farming as a hobby in 2011 when he bought goats from his late father, who had decided at the time to retire from being a part-time smallholder. In 2017, Bantsho left his job as a supply chain manager and started farming full-time. “After I bought my father’s goat farming business I continued to work and employed a farm manager to take care of the piece of veld near Morokweng, situated on communal land, which I inherited from my father,” says Bantsho. He says that…

Social media is one of the most powerful channels for marketing products. It therefore pays any producer to invest time and effort to create high-quality, visually attractive online content. And this applies in agriculture as much as anywhere else. SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE South Africa has a 62% Internet penetration rate, which means there are 36,5 million Internet users. A total of 22 million of these are active social media users. Facebook, with a penetration rate of 53%, is by far the largest platform in South Africa. These figures indicate that huge numbers of ordinary South Africans are potential online customers. Indeed, this market is already being exploited by some farmers, especially since the start of the COVID-19 lockdown. ‘Koop direk van boer’, which claims 74 000 members, and other similar…

Food inflation plays a central role in headline inflation, but is also an important metric to track in terms of access to sufficient and sufficiently nutritious food for households. The Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy’s (BFAP) ‘Baseline Agricultural Outlook 2020 to 2029’ explores current and possible future trends in food inflation and their potential impact on household food security from an affordability perspective. TRENDS IN FOOD INFLATION For the past couple of years, BFAP has included a food inflation forecast in its baseline report that is in line with the statistical properties of the inflationary series in question (be it food inflation or one of its sub-categories). This has been done with relative confidence, as most inflationary series exhibit a degree of inertia that can be drawn on to…

I have a banana tree in my garden in Pinetown. In order to protect the bunch, I manufactured a banana bunch bag from old shade net, cable ties and shade-net string to tie it up onto the mother banana tree. Since then, the tree has started producing more and more bananas, with each bunch yielding at least 28 bananas! This old shade-net banana bag has got enough space if more bananas are going to grow and is wide enough not to damage the skins of these baby bananas. I hope my idea will take root and farmers will now make/use these bags instead of the plastic variety that takes up too much space in landfills! Perhaps this is also an idea for an entrepreneur to take up? Kind regards, Natalie…

Kenya has the sixth largest cattle herd in Africa, estimated at 19 million animals. About 99% of the country’s production systems can be classified as extensive to semi-extensive, ranging between pastoralists (including nomadic ones), agro-pastoralists (mainly mixed farming among smallholders) and ranchers. A large share of these production systems is located in the arid and semiarid lands, which make up roughly 80% of the country’s land area. Consistent droughts and climate change have put beef farmers in these regions under sustained pressure to destock and sell animals in poor condition at predictably low prices. Meanwhile, Kenyans consume over 700 000t of beef, or an average of 14kg/person per year. This is one of the highest per capita consumption levels among developing countries, more so because Kenya has one of the…

The Namibian Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) has expressed serious concern about the intentional killing of African wild dogs on the country’s roads, especially in the eastern parts. The CCF said in a statement that severe drought during the past years had led to an increase in conflict between livestock and game farmers, and African wild dogs and cheetahs. “While cheetahs and African wild dogs are both rare; this area is home to a few remaining packs of the critically endangered wild dogs. “This kind of conflict could drive the species into extinction,” said Dr Laurie Marker, CCF founder and executive director. Marker added that attempts by motorists to kill African wild dogs on purpose were common in Namibia, as well as in South Africa and Zimbabwe. However, co-operation from farmers…

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in positive market demand for citrus, resulting in an upsurge in prices, according to Justin Chadwick, CEO of the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa. ‘I DO NOT THINK THE TREND WILL GO AWAY EASILY’ Chadwick and Hannes Nel, managing director of the Sundays River Citrus Company, spoke during a recent webinar, organised by the !Xhariep branch of Agricultural Writers’ South Africa, about the challenges the industry experienced amidst COVID-19, and the market’s response to it. The sale of navel oranges in the US increased significantly this year, said Chadwick. “In March 2020, when the [COVID-19] situation was really bad in the US, sales increased 84% compared with the same time last year. Over the year, there has been a 29% increase in navel sales.…

The banning of trophy hunting in Botswana has contributed to the increase of human-wildlife conflict in local communities in that country. This was according to a study published in August by Lelokwane Mokgalo of Botswana International University of Science and Technology and Prof Peet van der Merwe of North-West University’s Tourism Research in Economic Environs and Society research unit (TREES). The research suggested that the human-wildlife conflict that escalated last year, especially during the drought, was due to the hunting ban. The industry had, on average, employed about 1 000 people, received 350 hunters annually, and sold more than 5 500 hunting days per year since the mid-1990s. In 2011, a year before the trophy hunting ban was announced, the industry netted nearly R336 million in revenue from 2 500…

A new analytical facility in Wellington in the Western Cape can now routinely measure carbohydrate and starch concentrations in the leaves and roots of citrus trees at certain physiological stages throughout the season. According to a statement by global agricultural company, Agri Technovation, the ITEST Carbohydrate analysis programme, could assist in establishing “a greater equilibrium between crops”, which would result in increased harvest yields over time. Erik de Vries, director of marketing and sales at Agri Technovation, said carbohydrates performed numerous roles in fruit trees, and supported the development of flowers to facilitate the completion of fruit set. “However, a shortage of carbohydrates can result in poor flowering and fruit set, small fruit, poor colour, and lack of root growth.” He said the benefit to farmers was that carbohydrate and…

The South African Red Meat Producers’ Organisation (RPO) has welcomed the recent release of the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development’s bovine brucellosis control policy. This was according to Gerhard Schutte, CEO of the RPO, who said the disease had an eroding impact on South Africa’s cattle production sector, and posed a health risk to people as well. “Some 700 000 households in the country own cattle. This disease, if left unchecked, is a real threat to food and income security.” According to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the disease was first identified during the Crimean War in Europe. It was a significant cause of reduced production in sheep, goats and cattle, and had a serious impact on the livelihoods of farmers in developing countries. Spread…

Judging by recent reports, large Canadian cannabis cultivation companies such as Canopy Growth and Aurora are in deep trouble. There are two main reasons for this. First, their capital expenditure is twice as much as their income; second, their strategy from the outset has been to monopolise the cannabis industry by buying up all available licences worldwide. In many cases where licences were acquired, the companies constructed excessively large cultivation facilities, expecting to produce top-shelf buds at full capacity. What these companies failed to take into consideration is that every new facility requires a ‘dial-in’ period. This is the time it takes to address any shortcomings in the equipment or operations of a newly built facility, which can vary greatly depending on size and cultivation methodology. It is prudent to…

In 2019, the Agricultural Research Council’s Tropical and Subtropical Crops campus received a number of papaya plants (Carica papaya L.) with symptoms of extensive crown and root rot, which causes plants in orchards to collapse. The diseased trees arrived from Malelane in Mpumalanga and Tzaneen in Limpopo. Isolates of Phytophthora palmivora, a root and crown rot pathogen, were obtained from diseased tissue from each of the infected plants, and the identity of the species was confirmed by molecular identification. P. palmivora infects plant tissue below and above the soil line. At least 138 species from many plant families worldwide, but mainly in tropical climates, are potential hosts. They include species of citrus, various ornamental plants, and papaya. Symptoms of the disease include flower, fruit, stem and root rot. The pathogen…

There are many good reasons to plant kikuyu for animal feed: • It is easy to establish, and is an excellent species for controlling soil erosion; • It can be planted on steep, rocky slopes; • It can be established without the need for machinery or special equipment; • It can withstand severe defoliation and is frost-resistant as well as fairly drought-tolerant; • It helps ensure good animal performance; • It provides acceptable foggage (standing hay), and can be used for silage and hay; • It can be oversown with temperate grasses, such as annual ryegrass, and fodder radish for winter feed.…

A news item in Farmer’s Weekly of 26 June caught my attention. The topic was vegetable pricing, and a farmer was complaining that current market prices did not cover his production costs. I’m sure he was right. Many factors can affect the market price. Quality is an obvious one, so I won’t go into that. I’d rather focus on two other important and closely related factors: continuity of supply and average prices. KEEP IT COMING! I read in the same article that some farmers had ploughed in their crops because of the low market prices. That is never the answer. It is inevitable that a crop will fetch a low price from time to time. What counts far more in the long run is continuity of supply, because it is…

Serves two 4 to 6 large, floury potatoes Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling 30ml (2 Tbsp) butter (plus more for serving) 25g portabellini mushrooms, sliced Salt and pepper to taste 250g smoked streaky bacon 250ml (1 cup) sour cream, for serving A handful fresh chives, finely chopped, for serving 1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place the potatoes on a baking tray and drizzle with oil. Rub the oil with your hands to cover the potatoes all over. Bake for one hour or until fully cooked and golden brown. 2. In the meantime, heat the butter in a pan and fry the mushrooms until golden brown, seasoning with salt and pepper. Set aside. 3. Prepare the bacon by frying the slices in a pan until crispy. Drain on kitchen paper…

As we grow older, iron accumulates in our brains, and research has shown that a high level of iron in brain tissue may contribute to memory decline and Alzheimer’s disease. Iron accelerates brain cell oxidation, or ’rusting’, and excess iron contributes to the formation of brain plaques and tau protein tangles, which are strongly associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Fortunately, there are simple ways to reduce iron-related memory damage. The body obtains iron from the diet, and some scientists therefore believe that older people should limit their intake of certain foods. This includes eliminating food fortified with iron, such as enriched grain products (look for ’ferric’ or ’ferrous’ on the label), and reducing consumption of red meat, as it is rich in heme iron. Iron absorption can also be reduced by…

If you were given R30 million to invest in agriculture, either in new or existing farming activities or in the agriculture value chain, how would you spend it? I would spend the money on an awareness campaign to enlighten South Africans on what it takes to produce a wholesome plate of food. Many South Africans are unaware of the entire value chain or of the large number of scientists who work hard to make sure that people can eat healthy food. They include plant breeders, plant pathologists, agronomists and soil scientists. These individuals often go unseen or are forgotten, but society owes them a debt of gratitude. What is the best advice you have ever been given, and who gave it to you? ‘Champion your passion and one day your…

CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS & EXPOS 19 SEPTEMBER Grow to Life Workshop, Soil for Life, Cape Town.Email info@soilforlife.co.za. 29 OCTOBER AgriAllAfrica Agribusiness Conference, CSIR, Pretoria. Email Marianna du Plessis at marianna.duplessis@gmail.com, or phone her on 063 076 9135. 6 TO 7 NOVEMBER Environmental Waste and Landfill Management, Emperors Palace, Johannesburg.Email admin@maphosam.co.za. COURSES & TRAINING 14 TO 18 SEPTEMBER Introductory Course to Small-stock Management, Agricultural Research Council Irene Campus, Pretoria. Email Mpho Makhanya at makhanyam@arc.agric.za. 19 SEPTEMBER Cattle Calf Rearing, George. Phone Lily Rothman on 078 546 7985. 21 TO 23 SEPTEMBER Artificial Insemination, Agricultural Research Council Irene Campus, Pretoria. Email Mpho Makhanya at makhanyam@arc.agric.za, or phone her on 012 672 9153. 21 TO 25 SEPTEMBER Aquaculture, Agricultural Research Council Irene Campus, Pretoria. Email Mpho Makhanya at makhanyam@arc.agric.za. 24 TO 26…

In years gone by, manufacturing processes consisted of a line of workers being solely responsible for all material-handling functions. Whether it was assembly, picking or packaging, it was largely a laborious manual process. The detrimental effects to these workers’ health have been well documented, as many employees were subjected to conditions that sometimes resulted in serious illness, injury, and even death. As automation became widely accepted and implemented throughout various industries, robotics took it one step further with robots designed for specific applications, such as handling, packaging and palletising. Suddenly, these new pick-and-place robots allowed for more speed and consistency in throughput, while being customisable to meet production requirements. INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS PICK-AND-PLACE ROBOTS CAN WORK IN THE TIGHTEST SPACES While the usual suspects, such as the automotive and pharmaceutical industries,…

The latest data from Absa AgriBusiness shows that globally, sales of livestock products, particularly meat, are starting to trend up again, as lockdown restrictions are being eased worldwide. This after COVID-19-related trade restrictions slashed shipments of global meat products, driving prices higher and hitting sales. In 2018, South African consumers spent approximately US$15 billion (about R250 billion) on meat products, or about 35% of total food expenditure. Prior to the implementation of the Level 5 lockdown restrictions on 26 March, demand for meat was at normal levels. However, observations by the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) revealed that a few weeks after the implementation of the first lockdown, demand trended down due to severe constraints on consumers’ buying power, which was further exacerbated by the prolonged closure of…

The ANC has acknowledged that farm attacks and murders required special attention because these incidents threatened the economy and food production, but cautioned that extreme care needed to be taken in how farm murders and farm attacks were being interpreted. “We note with serious concern the negative impact that [the] ludicrous claim of white genocide has on the potential agricultural investment in terms of domestic and foreign capital, and decisively on our rural development programme,” said Zwelivelile Mandela, ANC MP. He added that these narratives were “patently false and serve to feed frenzies of fear that harms the nation”. He was one of the Members of Parliament who took part in a recent debate on the national importance of focusing on the scourge of farm attacks and murder of farmers,…

South Africa’s red meat industry would like to work with government to develop a country-specific health and welfare protocol for livestock exports by sea. This would build on existing similar, but internationally applicable, standards developed by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). This was according to Gerhard Schutte, CEO of South Africa’s Red Meat Producers’ Organisation (RPO), in his latest response to the ongoing dispute between the red meat industry and animal welfare supporters, about whether or not exports of live animals by sea should be allowed to continue. The National Council of the Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA), with support from various organisations and individuals, was determined to secure a High Court order to permanently ban such exports in the future. The NSPCA was…

The national lockdown in Australia to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an anticipated farmworker shortage for the next pome fruit harvest. Prime Minister Scott Morrison recently announced government’s intention to restart the Seasonal Workers Programme (SWP), which could provide some relief for the worker shortage. The SWP was designed to assist employers in the agriculture sector to fill employment gaps unable to be met by the Australian workforce. Nardia Stacey, executive manager at Pomewest, an apple and pear subcommittee of the Agricultural Produce Commissions’ Pome, Citrus and Stone Fruit Committee in Western Australia, said that while COVID-19 cases were low in that region, stringent border controls complicated matters when it came to accessing labour, Freshplaza.com said. In New South Wales (NSW), the webpage, ‘Help harvest…

Avocado prices are on the rebound on the local market, after slumping almost 6% between May and mid-August compared with the corresponding period last year, according to Paul Makube, senior agricultural economist at FNB Agribusiness. “Prices have so far been drifting upwards since May, and are currently [week ended 21 August] up 27% from the first week of May, and 29% higher relative to the same week in July,’’ he said. Derek Donkin, CEO of the South African Subtropical Growers’ Association (Subtrop), said avocados from Peru unexpectedly flooding the European market from mid-May to July had resulted in prices dropping on the local and international markets. However, he added that a decrease in the volume of avocados in the market had resulted in prices going up. “Demand from the catering…

The Upgrading of Land Tenure Rights Amendment (ULTRA) Bill is a step in the right direction, but not the final solution. This was according to Annelize Crosby, head of Agri SA’s Centre of Excellence for Land, while making a submission during public hearings on the Bill, conducted by the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. Farmer’s Weekly previously reported that the purpose of the Bill was to amend the Upgrading of Land Tenure Rights Act 1991 in order to provide for applications to be made for the conversion of land lease rights to ownership, and to provide for inquiries to be instituted to assist in the determination of land tenure tights. It also aimed to provide for application to the courts by aggrieved persons seeking appropriate relief,…

Grain contracts on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) include a location differential. Its purpose is to equalise the cost of grain delivered to different silos in terms of its location relative to a base location. Historically, Randfontein has been regarded as the spot where all grain in South Africa is processed, so location differentials are calculated with Randfontein as the basis. Over time, however, the grain production and trading environment has changed, and the bulk of grain is now traded at other places. Clearly, a location differential based on Randfontein is no longer practical. Grain SA is currently promoting a more scientific calculation of location differentials based on an analysis of the supply and demand of grain at all registered silos in South Africa. Logically, a more equitable system should…

• Various negative consequences of South Africa’s COVID-19 national lockdown are thought to be behind the apparent increase of property crimes on the country’s farms. • Government’s decision to prohibit private-sector farm security operations during the early stages of lockdown has been unpopular with the agriculture sector. • There is a widely held perception in agriculture that the country’s criminal justice system cannot be relied on to combat rural crime effectively.…

The larvae of the common cutworm (Agrotis segetum) are present throughout the year, overwintering in the soil and below weeds. They are usually a dark, dirty-grey or brown colour, and have a smooth, waxy appearance. When disturbed, the larva coils up into a ‘C’ shape. It is usually found 20mm to 50mm below the surface near severed seedlings. It feeds mostly at night, and moults six times in all, growing larger with each instar. A larva typically attacks the stems of maize seedlings, ‘cutting’ the plant down, hence the name of the pest. LIFE CYCLE Cutworm moths are nocturnal and take flight at night, laying eggs singly or in groups on the soil surface, or on the leaves of weeds and maize plants that may occur in lands in the…

The root system of a healthy avocado tree can penetrate the soil to a depth of 1m. Root rot (Phytophthora cinnamomi) can develop fairly quickly in poorly-drained soils; it is therefore essential to determine in advance the suitability of the soil for avocado production. Dig profile holes at least 1,5m deep in areas where there are different soil characteristics. Even if the soil on the surface appears to be the same (homogeneous), dig at least one profile hole per hectare. If you farm on hilly terrain, dig the holes in different positions along the slope to get an idea of the drainage properties of the area. It may be necessary, for example, to dig drainage furrows in the lower-lying areas to prevent water from accumulating. PROFILE HOLE Look out for…

Dear Jonno, I saw your sketches in Farmer’s Weekly. I need to build a home for my family near Middelburg, and would like your input. We need a two-bedroom home, but want to build it in sections as money becomes available. We would like to use as much local material as possible to build. The home must be modern in design. Kind regards, Joseph Dear Joseph, Thank you for the briefing for your family’s new home. There is certainly no problem in using local materials, but you should incorporate cement as well. This ingredient will ensure a solid home that will last for centuries. Many random materials can be included in the mortar mix to strengthen it and bulk it up; these can be river sand, pieces of rock, plastic…

ALL RISE by Dikgang Moseneke (Picador Africa, R330) Moseneke’s 2016 memoir My Own Liberator detailed his youth under apartheid, arrest at the age of 14 for sabotage, and imprisonment on Robben Island, which led him to a fascination with law and a desire to practise it. Moseneke calls his sequel “a judicial memoir”. It takes us briefly through his early days as a member of the bar, and concentrates mainly on his contribution to writing South Africa’s interim Constitution and his career as a judge. The latter includes the ‘Class of ‘95’ at the Constitutional Court and his recent work as arbitrator in the Life Esidimeni Commission of Inquiry. Moseneke writes thoughtfully, with flashes of humour and vivid characterisation. As a result, these memories spring from the page and engage…