Agri Western Cape welcomes the announcement by the Western Cape Cabinet recently that R50 million is being made available to assist livestock producers in the drought stricken areas of the province. Mr. Jannie Strydom, CEO of Agri Western Cape, says the Western Cape government has been nothing but supportive since the onset of the drought. [...]
South African apple orchards seem to have a propensity for Gala mutations. Cultivar management company TopFruit is now introducing one with striking commercial potential: a cherry red apple, named Bingo Gala. Seven years of trials have confirmed the genetic stability of the apple which in other respects such as taste, yield and harvest period doesn’t [...]
A new report from the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) aims to reduce consumers’ worries by describing how information from complex risk assessments can be misinterpreted in news stories and by consumer advocacy groups. The often complex findings from these scientific publications can easily be shaped into unfavorable narratives, confusing grocery buyers more [...]
Currently, more than half of working Africans have jobs in agriculture, but poor infrastructure, inadequate tools and a lack of investment have left the continent's mostly small-scale farms struggling to feed a growing population. Now, a wave of technological solutions is aiming to help. In Ghana, a company called Acquahmeyer rents out drones that help [...]
The newly founded World Citrus Organization (WCO) was officially launched at Fruit Attraction, Madrid. With this official presentation, citrus fruits are finally placed at the same level of coordination worldwide as other fruit categories, such as pears & apples, kiwis, avocado or red fruits, which already have their own global platforms. The WCO will act [...]
Emerging black farmers in South Africa are set to benefit from a multibillion-Rand fund set up by businessman Patrice Motsepe. Motsepe said this during the African Farmers Association of SA (Afasa) agribusiness transformation conference in Bloemfontein over the weekend, where he also added that the fund will focus on assisting those in agriculture, agribusiness and [...]
Agri SA congratulates its board who have been elected at the 2019 Congress. The board is representative of the entire agricultural value chain, including Agri SA’s provincial affiliates, commodity organizations and corporate members. “It has been a tough year, but the agricultural sector is resilient,” said Dan Kriek, re-elected Agri SA President. “The Board is [...]
The month of June saw the commissioning and opening for business of the latest cold storage facility from SAFT (Southern African Fruit Terminals) a subsidiary of the Belgium owned SEA-invest Group. The 5 500 pallet capacity facility occupies 17 105m2 under roof on one section of a 70 120m2 site in Abland’s rapidly developing Atlantic [...]
Throughout South Africa fruit and vegetable crops are experiencing the effects of drought and a concomitant vulnerability to stress factors. In the absence of more water or fertilisers, farmers are increasingly looking at harnessing the positive power of beneficial nematodes, which have for a long time only had a bad reputation. Tylenchulus semipenetrans, a parasitic [...]
An international team of scientists led by the University of Goettingen has developed a new approach that enables researchers to more efficiently identify the genes that control plant traits. This method will enable plant breeders and scientists to develop more affordable, desirable, and sustainable plant varieties. The application will be most valuable for the fruit, [...]
