Table of contents for 18 November 2016 in Farmer's Weekly

Perhaps things have always been this way and all that has changed is that we are now better informed about global politics. Yet I cannot help but feel that people all over the world are increasingly allowing themselves to be united in a fight against some common enemy, whether real or imaginary, instead of by the common good. Rather than fighting for what we believe to be right and good, we gather together to oppose that which we fear and despise. When I scour the Internet for local and international news, the one theme that stands out more than anything else is growing intolerance. We support politicians who exploit our worst fears with catchy one-liners that falsely promise quick, easy solutions to big, complex problems. And then we feel cheated…

SOUTH AFRICA’S AGRICULTURAL SECTOR HAS ALSO SEEN TREMENDOUS GROWTH At this year’s International Grains Council Conference in London, I sat in admiration as Jesús Silveyra from Argentina’s Ministry of Agriculture presented his country’s ambitious 2020 development plan for the agricultural sector. According to this plan, Argentina intends to increase its grains and oilseeds production by 50%; its beef production by 15%; its forestry production by 80%; and its agroprocessing capacity by 8%. It also intends improving the rail and roads network to outlying areas. The main aim of all this is to increase Argentina’s share in export markets. ALREADY A MAJOR EXPORTER What made Silveyra’s address more interesting is the fact that Argentina has already made great strides in global agricultural markets. It is a leading global producer and exporter…

The short- to medium-term outlook for canning fruit and fruit purée looks promising due to the support of the rand. This was according to Wiehahn Victor, CEO of the Canning Fruit Producers’ Association (CFPA). Canning peach and apricot levels appeared to be on the low side, but pear supplies were well-balanced, he told the CFPA AGM in Worcester recently. Apricot and pear purée seemed to be in good demand, while prices for peach purée, which was oversupplied last season, appeared to be recovering. Other positive market indicators included the economic partnership agreement with Europe that recently came into effect. This will result in a zero import tariff for a quota of 57 156t of canning fruit by 2027. Before the agreement was signed, South Africa had to pay an import…

A new solar-powered irrigation kit, developed by US company SunCulture, is helping small-scale farmers in Kenya achieve better yields. According to Bloomberg, the kits were available on a pay-as-you-go basis, with farmers paying a small deposit and low instalments throughout the growing season and after harvesting. Statistics from the International Water Management Institute indicated that only 5% of agricultural land in Africa was irrigated. Less than 4% of Kenya’s 5,4 billion acres (2,2 billion hectares) of arable land was irrigated, the World Bank said. This posed a risk to food security and agricultural production in below-average rainfall areas. To address this, the Kenyan government wanted to double the area under irrigation. The solar-powered irrigation kits could be a solution to this challenge. According to a Water Research Commission report on…

The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform’s (DRDLR) land ceiling policy was the central discussion at the National Conference on Regulation of Agricultural Landholdings recently held in Boksburg. Many arguments for and against the policy were discussed at the conference. Prof Michael Lipton, a development economist at the University of Sussex in the UK, said that in countries such as South Africa, where land was unequally distributed, “ceilings and land redistribution into smallholdings [was] a powerful way to distribute land without having race-specific legislation”. In 2015, the DRDLR proposed land ceilings for private agricultural land ownership to be separated into three categories, namely, smallholder farms (up to 1 000ha), medium farms (up to 2 500ha) and large commercial farms (up to 5 000ha). Hilton Toolo, head of policy at…

As current food security measuring scales were complex, it was necessary to develop a relevant framework to accurately measure food security. This was the topic of discussion at the Food Security and Nutrition Seminar at the Wits School of Governance. Wits hosted the seminar in collaboration with the Centres for Learning on Evaluation and Results, and Wageningen University and Research Centre. Christopher Manyamba, doctoral student at the University of Pretoria’s Institute for Food, Nutrition and Well-being, said that there was no universally accepted food security measurement system that could be applied across emergency and non-emergency contexts. There was also little success in devising reliable indicators of food security. “Instead, single elements of food security, including availability, access, utilisation and stability are usually used to indicate food security. Furthermore, choices of…

‘CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE SUPPORTS BIODIVERSITY, AND THE HEALTHIER THE BIODIVERSITY, THE MORE STABLE THE AGRO-ECOSYSTEM’ Naturalist and co-founder of the EO Wilson Biodiversity Foundation in the US, Edward Wilson, once said, “If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos”. According to Dr Annemie Erasmus, researcher in entomology at the ARC Grain Crops Institute (ARC-GCI), crop farmers who see all insects on their lands as pests to be eradicated would do well to heed Wilson’s words. These farmers are likely to find that, on closer examination, many of these insects are benefical predators that attack destructive pests. RESTORING BIODIVERSITY There is an urgent need for local crop farmers to restore insect biodiversity in agriculture, Erasmus stresses. A diverse range of flora in a crop land serves to confuse or…

FARMERS CAN ACHIEVE ANYTHING FROM R55/KG TO R185/KG IN THE FORMAL MARKET The most frequent question asked by entry-level fish farmers is: “Where can I sell my fish?” This cautious approach is prudent, as the lack of a consistent market caused the collapse of the nascent catfish industry in the 1990s. In this article, I’ll discuss the three market opportunities currently available to tilapia fish farmers. THE INFORMAL MARKET This market is particularly useful for selling small tilapia of between 150g and 300g. Millions of rural people throughout tropical Africa, for example the Barotse people in north-west Zambia, survive on wild-caught tilapia of this size. Their daily catch often consists of very small fish, often less than 10cm in length. There is also a substantial market for small tilapia in…

THE RISK OF A REDUCED CROP IN 2017 IS STILL GREAT AVOCADOS (South African Avocado Growers’ Association – SAAGA) This country’s avocado farmers have had a great deal to contend with this past season – the drought, high temperatures and widespread hail, all of which have taken their toll on local crops. As a result, the avocados available this year were of a different quality and were available for a much shorter period. According to Derek Donkin, CEO of SAAGA, this year’s season is already drawing to a close. Traditionally, it lasts well into November. “These adverse weather conditions had a severe impact on the 2016 season. Our avocados were smaller and a little more blemished than normal. In addition, there was no out-of-season crop on the trees this year…

• Have a passion for beekeeping “People who tend to enjoy what they are doing tend to be more successful than others. This holds true especially for beekeeping, which requires hard work and many hours of overtime.” • Have access to forage all year round This can be a challenge. Phirdy suggests that a beekeeper partner with landowners and offer them some honey or pollination services in exchange. “Bees can be fed sugar water during times of shortages, but this really isn’t the ideal,” she says. • Leware of transportation costs Transportation is one of the biggest costs that beekeepers have to deal with, as they have to transport their hives for pollination services and to forage. • Start small There is a lot more to beekeeping than simply moving hives from one place…

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FEW FARMERS ACTUALLY CHECK UNDER THE LEAVES Non-systemic products have to be sprayed thoroughly to be effective. This applies particularly to fungicides. With insecticides, you might get away with less than full coverage, depending on the mobility of the pest. For example, with caterpillars that eat through the leaf, it is not essential to obtain full coverage on both sides, provided you apply the correct rate of active ingredient. Fungal diseases are more of a challenge as they usually develop on the underside of leaves, so you need to spray these areas thoroughly. In fact, wetting the underside usually gives fairly good coverage of the top of the leaves as well. Admittedly, it takes considerable effort to reach the underside of leaves, especially in the case of Brassicaceae (the cabbage…

IF THE IMPACTION IS NOT CLEARED, THE HORSE MAY GO INTO TOXIC SHOCK The lack of rain over the Highveld has affected the quantity and quality of roughage for both grazing and stabled horses. One of the consequences is impaction colic. Here, fibrous material packs together, blocking the intestinal tract and causing severe pain. Although the blockage can occur anywhere between the stomach and the rectum, undigested roughage causes obstructions mainly in the caecum and colon sections of the large intestine. The signs of impaction colic are generally not as severe as an acute torsion or a gas colic, where horses thrash and roll, but the condition can be life-threatening. The horse usually looks depressed and stops eating. It is often dehydrated and the faecal pellets passed tend to be…

Dear Jonno I live in Zimbabwe and would like you to design a house for me. As the house will be built on a farm, space is not a problem. SPECIFICATIONS I require two lounges, the first of which must be sunken. The second lounge must allow for a lot of sunlight, and must be well-ventilated with big sliding doors leading outside. I would also like a fireplace in one of the lounges, and a separate dining room. The kitchen must be spacious, and include a pantry. I also want an entrance hall and a patio. I require four bedrooms. The master bedroom must be sunken and spacious, with large double doors and a big sliding door leading out onto the veranda. This bedroom must have plenty of sunlight, a…

THE NEW MANAGER by Steven Jacobs (Penguin, R220) Workforces can vary considerably in farming, but whatever their size or function, they have to be managed effectively. Even apparently ‘born leaders’ learn and develop on the job, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Whether you need to add more confidence or more humility to your leadership approach, Jacobs, a SA-based management specialist, helps you tackle the task in his “52 simple steps”. Themes include potential flashpoints such as beating the ‘red mist’, succession planning, acknowledging individuals and sharing best practices. WHEN ZUMA GOES by Ralph Mathekga (Tafelberg, R260) We saw a spate of books some years ago on the theme of ‘when Mandela goes’. This is the first to use this approach with the current…

South Africa’s cotton industry faces a mixed outlook for the 2017 production year. According to Koot Louw, secretary of Cotton SA, farmers currently planting have reported that soil and weather conditions have improved from the previous season. “Farmers are positive and the situation is looking a lot better. We expect there’ll be more hectares planted, particularly under dryland conditions. Farmers who rely on irrigation will struggle because the dams are empty,” said Louw. Cotton SA has not released crop estimates for the 2017 season yet, but expects an improvement on the 2015/2016 season. The final estimate for the 2015/2016 production year indicated a total crop of 50 821 lint bales (200kg each), down 46% from the previous season and 5% down from October’s estimate. A total of 50 721 lint…

A change in the cold treatment protocol of South African table grapes exported to China has been hailed by table grape producers and exporters as “one of the biggest breakthroughs since deregulation in agriculture”. The new “more fruit-friendly protocol” would create an opportunity to increase the value of table grape exports from South Africa to China to about R2,5 billion over the next five years, according to a statement issued by the South African Table Grape Industry (SATI). Michael Laubscher, chairperson of SATI, said that the new cold treatment protocol was 0,8ºC for a minimum of 20 days. The previous protocol had been -0,6ºC for 22 days, which posed “unaffordable risks in the form of cold-related damage to grape berries and stems”. Although South Africa was the fourth-largest exporter of…

Large parts of the farming community near Bothaville in the Free State were left without Internet access after a storm that swept over the farm Gelykvlakte destroyed a communication mast. A spokesperson for the service provider, Karen Baumgarten, said that the storm had occurred on the farm, situated about 10km out of town, at 2pm on Sunday, 13 November. She added that technicians were working around the clock to restore connectivity. “I often think city dwellers don’t have an idea of the challenges we have to face to stay in touch with the rest of the world,” she said. The same communication mast was disconnected a few days before the storm, when a farm implement uprooted its power supply. Org Steenkamp, who farms on Gelykvlakte, estimated that the extent of…

The success of the virtual fence (VF) activated in Gordon’s Bay in January 2016 to keep baboons out of town could result in the use of this technology in the Karoo, where baboons have become a major threat to sheep. According to Justin O’Riain, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Cape Town (UCT), baboons were regarded as the most threatening pest species in Africa, and caused significant damage to pine trees in plantations, crops and urban areas. More recently, baboons have become a threat to smallstock in the Karoo. “It has not been quantified by research what the status of predation is in the Karoo, but farmers are reporting increasing losses due to baboons, especially during summer,” he said. “Dr Marion Tafani at UCT is currently working…

While the informal market for locally produced, as well as imported, goats was thriving, South Africa’s formal goat industry wanted to see a dramatic increase in production and sales, both nationally and internationally. This was the dominant theme at the inaugural Goat Agribusiness Conference held recently in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. According to Dr Bandile Mkhize, director of Goats Unlimited, the company that hosted the conference, significant opportunities existed for SA’s goat producers to generate a sustainable income. “People in South Africa often underappreciate goats in terms of the positive health impacts of eating goat meat, and how important these animals are to many cultures in our country,” he said. Johan Steyn, owner of Patriot Boer Goat Stud in the Eastern Cape, told conference delegates that it was not economically viable to…

Mango growers in Pakistan have long struggled with various fungal species that cause sudden death syndrome in the orchards. Symptoms are bark splitting, drooping leaves, fruit rot, gummosis, canker and root rot. Today, however, growers are fighting back successfully by directly infusing a fungicide and several plant activators into the tree trunks. Researchers experimented with three synthetic plant biological activators: Bion, Planofix and Root King administered separately and with systemic fungicide, Topsin-M (thiophanate methyl). Topsin-M was first macro-injected on its own into holes bored into tree trunks to reach the xylem tissue, and the three activators were then added in separate experimental treatments. Synthetic activators induce systemic acquired resistance, induce expression of resistance gene(s), or reactivate root elongation, thereby copying natural plant defence mechanisms. Field trials conducted over two years…

Nedbank is proud of its status as the “green and caring bank”, and is committed to entrenching this reputation through ongoing efforts to support sustainability and avoid harm to the environment. As South Africa’s farmers struggle to recover from the country’s worst drought in 30 years, their need to save energy has become critical. This is especially true given the increasing cost of electricity. Renewable energy can play a major role in this respect, saving farmers thousands of rands in the medium to long term. Farmers can benefit financially from investing in renewable energy technologies such as solar water heaters (SWH) or solar photovoltaic (PV) systems on their farms and in their homes. Indeed, investing in these technologies can benefit the entire agricultural sector, including processors. ENERGY COSTS The South…

LABOUR IS THE PRINCIPAL COST COMPONENT BUT INPUT COSTS ARE GENERALLY FAIRLY LOW South African producers can earn a healthy premium from locally produced groundnuts as they are sought-after on the export market due to their shape and taste. On average, about 25% of South Africa’s crop is exported. This is according to Gerhard Dreyer, owner of The New Nut Company near Setlagole in North West. The operation processes peanuts from approximately 50 suppliers and also grows about 450ha of the crop on dryland. Gerhard started out as a supplier to the company, but acquired shares in 2005 before taking full ownership of the business in 2007. Locally, The New Nut Company supplies peanuts to Tiger Brands and Simba, and under Gerhard’s leadership it started exporting to Rotterdam. Today 25%…

Markets and market agents throughout South Africa use Freshmark Systems (FS) software to manage their sales and administration. This well-regarded system is unique in the international fresh produce market sector. At its regular ‘User Group’ conferences, FS introduces the latest technology upgrades and listens to user comments. Technologically challenged as I am, I found the most recent conference stimulating and thought-provoking. After attending it, I can appreciate the value that new digital technology brings to the practical side of selling fresh produce. Perhaps most importantly, IT plays a crucial role in maintaining the highly competitive nature of fresh produce trading – to everyone’s benefit. Farmers, for example, have instant access to pricing and other marketing data, allowing them to make faster, better-informed decisions. Just as importantly, the sector as a…

I find it fascinating that the shape of an object helps to determine its strength. Early builders did not fully understand this concept, but they nevertheless built long-lasting structures by copying what they saw around them. Mother Nature offers plenty of examples of structures that can be used to support a mass or a force. In the next couple of articles, we’ll take a closer look at beams, struts, cables and shafts from the point of view of structural design. Many of these elements are used in cars, bakkies and tractors, either in a simple, recognisable form, or as part of a more complex structure. STRESS Engineers use stress distribution inside a material to help them determine whether the material is strong enough. Stress is defined as the load or…

‘WHEN MEN WORK, THEY WORK, BUT WHEN MEN PRAY, GOD WORKS’ The power of prayer In James 5:16, we are told that “the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man [or woman] avails much.” How clearly this was shown with Elijah! When the great prophet called out to God, the Lord heard his prayer, and stopped the rain for three years and six months, until the people repented. When Elijah prayed again, God brought abundant rain. If you do not do so already, begin the habit of daily prayers on your farm. Start praying on your own early in the morning, and then, just before work commences, pray with your staff. Pray not only for the farm, but for your employees’ well-being and needs. Apart from the value of the…

Many farmers will head down to the coast over the Christmas holidays, and those with drones may be taking them along to do some fishing! One farmer I know simply ties a length of heavy-duty nylon onto the legs of his DJI drone, and ties a plastic clothes peg to the end of this. He then hangs the bait and swivel from the peg and flies the drone out to sea. As it flies, it unwinds the fishing line. When the drone is above the drop area (visible, of course, via the video feed on his cellphone or tablet), the fisherman locks his reel, and then jerks the drone up to release the bait. The drone can then fly back to the shore. A heavy sinker is no longer needed…

12 attributes of successful farmers Recently, I made this list of 12 attributes shared by farmers whom I know: 1. They are an argumentative lot. Farmers are individuals who work on their own, or with people who know them well. So they say what they think and, at times, they make each other very cross. But, when they need to be, they are indivisible, as they want each other to succeed. 2. They expect scars, even a lost finger. 3. They have a very low ‘bulldust’ threshold. See point 1. 4. They are confirmed gamblers – they always believe next year will be better. 5. They eat meat! More than you would think is possible. 6. They are used to spending lots of money, as they spend hundreds of thousands…

CONFERENCES & EXPOS 16 TO 18 NOVEMBER 9th Interpera World Pear Congress, Franschhoek. Phone Thea van Zyl on 021 870 2900, or visit www.hortgro-science.co.za/ interpera-2016. 28 TO 30 NOVEMBER Africa Agri Investment Indaba, CTICC, Cape Town. Visit www.agri-indaba.com. 3 TO 5 DECEMBER African Investments and Business Forum, International Conference Center of Algiers, Algeria. Visit www.agbiz.co.za/uploads/AgbizNews16/161021_African-Investment-Algiers-meeting.pdf. COURSES & TRAINING 15 TO 17 NOVEMBER Three-day Basic Conservation Agriculture, Meadowdale. Phone Neill Jackson on 082 407 6774, or email neill@foundationsforfarming.org. 16 NOVEMBER Profitable Boer Goat Production, Potchefstroom. Phone Johan Steyn on 072 594 4626, or visit www.boergoats.co.za. 17 TO 18 NOVEMBER Commercial Gourmet Mushroom Cultivation, Johannesburg. Phone Adriaan Smit on 082 749 8553, or visit www.mushroomacademy.com. 21 TO 23 NOVEMBER Sheep and Goats Artificial Insemination, Krugersdorp. Phone Di Rothman on 082 772 1208,…

OUR PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING, BUT THEY WILL SOMEHOW PROSPER AGAIN I am usually more comfortable writing about the economy, water or mining, and bread-and-butter issues that require empirical research, but a recent experience inspired me to venture outside my comfort zone and write about my observations and thoughts during a recent day out in Hartbeesfontein. I program my GPS and leave the city behind, opting for the Krugersdorp route and wondering what became of Paul Kruger’s gold coins. When I pass the sign that says ‘North West Province’ it’s almost as if I enter another world. The roads are riddled with potholes, fences sag, and here and there a cow saunters aimlessly. The veld becomes increasingly dry and I think about the drought – all the conversations, all the sums,…

Dogged by a stronger rand, wool traded 3,8% lower this week and the Merino indicator decreased 571 points to close at R146,49 (clean), while the Australian market shed only 1,1%. The market was in full support of the finer offerings with good competition among all the buying houses for these types, but coarser types were under pressure, according to Cape Wools. With the season well under way, deliveries to brokers were on the increase, resulting in more wool left unsold. “Wool of 18,7-micron (µ) and finer was the least affected but wool of 19µ to 20µ, sold for 3,5% less, while the stronger categories of 21µ 23µ lost 4,5%,” James de Jager of the OVK/CMW Group said. “Our highest price of R131/kg was achieved by BJ Phillips of Barkly East…

US potato and onion supplier and distributor, Potandon Produce, has launched a range of light-blocking potato bags. According to the company, the bags limit light exposure to fresh potatoes which improved the shelf life and quality of the product. The light-blocking technology was developed by Michigan State University’s School of Packaging. According to Ralph Schwartz, vice-president of sales at Potandon Produce, the bags blocked out 99,5% of all visible and ultraviolet light rays. This eliminated the risk of the product turning green, due to exposure to light. The company anticipated that the packaging would improve consumer acceptance of potatoes. “Since most light exposure to fresh potatoes [occurs] at the retail level or in consumer homes, this improvement will dramatically increase customer satisfaction,” Schwartz said. Rudolf Badenhorst, market development manager at…

A group of industry stakeholders and farmers in the Turkish citrus industry met with local citrus producers in Groblersdal, Limpopo, recently to share ideas on challenges experienced by their industries. According to Ilker Ercan, crop manager for fruits and nuts at Bayer’s Crop Science Division in Turkey, that country has 28 million hectares of agricultural land, with half-a-million hectares under citrus production. Some 45% of this is under oranges, followed by mandarins lemons and grapefruit. Grapes and lemons are Turkey’s largest fresh fruit exports. Most of the citrus is consumed domestically as juice or fresh produce. Exports of up to one million tons a month are standard, with Russia being the main importer. “The main varieties are local varieties that are not known in other countries, and marketing is a…

South Africans are less informed, but more positive, about biotechnology than people in developed countries. This is according to the recently released “Public Perceptions of Biotechnology in South Africa” survey, in which almost 3 000 people participated. The survey found that South Africans were more than twice as likely as their European counterparts to believe that food produced from genetically modified (GM) crops was safe to eat. Respondents were also generally more likely to reply with a “I don’t know” response, with more than half of the respondents saying that biotechnology was too specialised for them to understand. Dr Phil Mjwara, director-general of the Department of Science and Technology, which conducted the survey, said that this lack of understanding had to be addressed to improve support for emerging technologies. “Support…

Water allocation rights in South Africa should not be racialised. This was according to Mike Mlengana, director-general of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF). Mlengana said that the fact that most water rights were owned by white commercial farmers should be seen in context with the contribution they made to ensure food security in South Africa. “It’s important that we support these [commercial] farmers, since they’re the people who produce what we eat. We want to emphasise the development of smallholder farmers, but we can’t do it at the expense of growth,” he said. Mlengana was responding to issues raised during the recent briefing by Parliament’s Portfolio Commitee on Water and Sanitation on riparian water rights. The committee had tasked the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) to…

Mining company, Sungu Sungu Gas (Pty) Ltd, has withdrawn its application for oil and gas exploration. The company’s application spanned 565 000ha from Verkykerskop in the Free State to Winterton in KwaZulu-Natal. Farmer’s Weekly previously reported that Sungu Sungu’s initial draft scoping report (DSR) had been conducted by Environmental Impact Management Services, a private company appointed to assess the impact of oil and gas exploration. However, according to community members, this report was not up to standard. Adele Slater, a former attorney and dairy farmer from Ladysmith, said that in terms of Section 10 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Act, the Petroleum Agency of South Africa (PASA) was obligated to allow stakeholders time to submit objections and comments with regard to the exploration application within 14 days of accepting…

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), Senzeni Zokwana, has decided to settle in a case brought by the South African Deep-Sea Trawling Industry Association (SADSTIA) against his department. SADSTIA and other stakeholders in the horse mackerel fishing industry jointly initiated legal proceedings to try to compel DAFF to withdraw the ‘experimental horse-mackerel permit’ it had issued to Global Pact Trading 193 (GPT 193). DAFF previously explained that GPT 193’s permit was partly for the purposes of determining the exact size, distribution and value of the country’s horse mackerel fishery. Had SADSTIA’s legal challenge not stalled the permit’s implementation, GPT 193 would have been allowed to harvest 8 000t of horse mackerel, valued at an estimated R80 million, between December 2015 and December 2016. SADSTIA’s chairperson, Tim Reddell, previously told…

‘TREAT PROFIT FIGURES WITH SUSPICION: CASH IS A FACT, PROFIT’S AN OPINION!’ At school, we were taught about the great discoveries of scientists such as Isaac Newton, Louis Pasteur, Alfred Einstein and others. Never did we hear the name ‘Luca Paciola’. It was only when I started out on my journey to financial literacy that I learnt about this unsung hero who brought order into the chaos of commercial record-keeping in the late 15th century. I discovered all of this while trying to understand what, for me, was one of the most confusing things about business record-keeping – the double-entry bookkeeping system. Paciola did not actually invent the system, but he refined and formalised it. While delving into the commercial records of rich street merchants in Venice, he saw that…

According to the National Crop Estimate Committee, South Africa produced 18 850t of groundnuts in the 2015/2016 production year. This is the smallest crop in 71 years and a threefold reduction on the 2014/2015 season, due to a decline in area planted to about 22 600ha. This can be ascribed to the 2015/2016 El Niño-induced drought. South African groundnut production has been on the decline since the mid-1980s, which had been exacerbated by the current drought. Previously, the country had been a net exporter of groundnuts due to relatively low domestic consumption of about 63 000t/annum. About 37% of this is consumed directly as peanuts, with the balance processed into peanut butter, oil and other products. Groundnut import estimates for 2016/2017 vary between 30 000t and 50 000t. By the…

Rebelo Agricultural Machinery, Zuiderwint Mechanization and Joined Specialised Farming (JSF) have instituted a farmer’s day to showcase as many implements as possible to vegetable farmers. The venue of the recent inaugural event was the JSF farm near Bapsfontein in Gauteng. The turnout of both exhibitors and visitors exceeded all expectations, and plans are already underway to make this a biennial event. The following specialised implements caught my eye: THE TOOLBAR IS STEERED HYDRAULICALLY FOR PRECISION WEEDING 1 Rotary cultivator The robust build of the Struik RF rotary cultivator makes it ideal for thorough soil preparation in difficult conditions. This rigid-tine cultivator can be used either as a full-field or row cultivator. Shown here is the RF200 model. 2 Burying stones The Forigo Roteritalia stone burier was introduced in South Africa…

THE SAPIR FINAL GENERATES THREE DIFFERENT PRIZE PAY-OUT CATEGORIES The final event of the annual South African Prestige Invitational Pigeon Race (SAPIR), with a distance of approximately 570km, was held from Gariep Dam on 25 September. The first of 23 road training flights was held on 1 July (45km), and the distances were gradually increased until the last of the four Hot Spots was completed. Loft trainer, Daniel Chilengue, and loft manager, Billy Kitchenbrand, did a fine job; the few losses and quick returns in the final race attest to the quality of the pigeons. Due to the limited number of birds competing, the challenge for breeders is to correctly assess the ability of the pigeons they choose to enter. Buyers at the auction then get an opportunity to buy…

To make the Great South African Mediterranean Breakfast for four, you will need: 400g spaghettini or linguine pasta 4 extra-large eggs 4 spring onions 250g boerewors 90g hard cheese Zest of one orange ½ cup flat leaf (or regular) parsley Salt and freshly ground black pepper on demand 10ml extra virgin olive oil Three things make this Mediterranean recipe: olive oil, pasta and much more time than dishing up the industrial breakfast cereal of your choice. Get a 2l saucepan of lightly salted water on the boil. Read the instructions on the packet and follow them without deviation or any attempt at novel thought. Finely chop the parsley and detach the zest from the orange. Newborn zesters please take note: the zest is just the thin outer layer of the…

Why you can’t beat beet! Researchers are uncovering beetroot’s health secrets – and there are many. Betanin, its most potent antioxidant, can defuse the radicals that cause havoc in normal cells. To get the greatest benefit from betanin, researchers suggest drinking beetroot juice daily. Along with a variety of other components, such as betalain pigments, beetroot is said to provide protection against breast, stomach, colon and lung cancers. Another natural chemical found in beets is betaine trimethylglycine (TMG), a substance that helps with the production of brain chemicals that affect mood, energy, well-being and concentration. It also helps the body to metabolise a toxic amino acid called homocysteine. High levels of homocysteine are associated with heart disease and stroke. FATTY DEPOSITS Studies in rats suggest that betaine extracted from beets…