Farmer's Weekly 8 October 2021

The Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) has been producing its annual baseline agricultural report for the past 17 years. The report offers a 10-year outlook for the sector, and has been a valuable source of information about the South African food and farming sectors. The report has also been largely successful in predicting many of the major trends that have emerged over almost two decades. However, according to Prof Ferdi Meyer, director of BFAP, and Dr Tracy Davids, manager of BFAP’s commodity market division, there were some surprises that emerged out of recent data. At the launch of the BFAP Baseline Report 2021, Meyer and Davids said one of the surprises of the past few years has been the speed at which some fruit production industries have grown.…

“The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Food Programme (WFP) recently warned that acute food insecurity was likely to deteriorate further in 23 countries during the outlook period from August to November 2021. Ethiopia and Madagascar were the new highest-alert hotspots. In Ethiopia, up to 401 000 people were projected to be in ‘Catastrophe’ (Phase 5 in the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification [IPC] system) between July and September 2021. This figure, the highest number since the 2011 famine in Somalia, was due to the impact of conflict in the Tigray region. The Famine Review Committee estimated a medium to high risk of famine in three out of four possible scenarios. In Madagascar, a total of 28 000 people will also be at risk of famine…

The Subtropical and Minor Crop Workshop will focus on a number of crops, including dragon fruit, kiwi fruit, mangoes, avocados, macadamias and pecans. The current status of the subtropical and minor crop industries will be discussed, as well as local market potential, international market potential, soil, microclimate, management needs of the crop, and technical production techniques. Email Marlise Coetzee at dns@southerncrosstrust.com. CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS AND EXPOS 18 TO 19 OCTOBER Animal Feed Manufacturers’ Association Symposium (online). Visit afmasymposium.co.za. 21 TO 22 OCTOBER Africa Strategy Execution Conference (online). Visit africastrategy.co.za. 28 TO 29 OCTOBER 4IR Agritech Conference, Protea Hotel, Stellenbosch. Email Connie Mamabolo at connie@mathematraining.co.za, or phone her on 011 862 4001. COURSES AND TRAINING 5 OCTOBER TO 11 NOVEMBER Trail Guide Course (online). Email Terry Gouws at enquiries@ecotraining.co.za, or phone her on 013 752 2532. 9 TO 10 OCTOBER Beginners’ Floral Course, Randburg. Visit…

Over the years, farmers in the north-western Cape perfected a system of flooding sowing dams when rivers brought water from distant catchments, as this article detailed. When rain or snow falls in Fraserburg and Sutherland in the Northern Cape and Beaufort West in the Western Cape, sheep farmers in the north-western Cape begin to grease their tractors in preparation for wheat planting. Once the rivers in the north-western Cape begin to flow, there is no rest for several weeks as farmers make the most of their good fortune and begin to flood thousands of hectares of sowing dams in which wheat is eventually planted. Experience has taught them that if the dams are flooded and the wheat properly planted, they are virtually assured of a crop – whether it be for harvesting or…

Nozizwe Mhlongo farms on 10ha of land in Sehlakwane, a rural area in Limpopo. She uses some of this land for maize production, which recently benefited from Bayer’s ‘Better Farms, Better Lives’ initiative. Mhlongo is one of the estimated two million smallholder and subsistence farmers in South Africa, many of whom have been impacted by the effects of COVID-19 and the related lockdown regulations. In line with its vision of ‘health for all, hunger for none’, last year Bayer launched the Better Farms, Better Lives scheme, a global project that saw the distribution of maize and vegetable seed to help cushion smallholder farmers from the ravages of the pandemic. In Africa, this distribution exercise has, to date, been instituted in seven countries: South Africa, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Kenya. Mhlongo was one…

MOST POPULAR ON FARMERSWEEKLY.CO.ZA MARKET ACCESS AND INFRASTRUCTURE TROUBLES IMPEDE AGRI GROWTH The agriculture sector is expected to expand 7,6% year-on-year in 2021; however, long-term growth is expected to decline. This was according to the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy’s Baseline 2021 report. Read the full article at bit.ly/2ZhFW4B, or scan here: Posted: 16 September 2021. Follow us at @FarmersWeeklySA FROM FACEBOOK @FarmersWeeklySA We posted a link to an article titled ‘Farmers warned to be on the lookout for brown locust outbreaks’ (see story on page 16), and some of our followers shared their views on the matter. Posted: 18 September 2021. READERS’ COMMENTS mokete Sello Tsibela: “Sad news for farmers.” Clive Bonga: “Farmers could take advantage and make money out of [the locusts] if they were to think outside the box.” John De Sousa: “I have seen some brown [locusts]…