Naspers Foundry, Naspers's start-up fund, on Wednesday announced a R100 million investment in agritech business Aerobotics due to its "world-class technology solution" in food security. Aerobotics is a subscription-based artificial intelligence (AI) company that provides intelligent tools for the agricultural industry to manage its crops. Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa, the chief executive of Naspers's South Africas unit, [...]
South African orange exports to UK at 25,290 units, while the total volume of South African oranges exported stood at 412,871 cartons in week 20, with the majority (118,063 units) going to the Middle East, by ship only. Shipments to South East Asia stood at 15,253 cartons, a y-o-y drop of 25%, whilst shipments to [...]
South African citrus farmers have been thrown a lifeline following the allocation of a R307 million (15.7 mln) fund through the Economic Transformation programme. The programme will be rolled out over three years with a specific focus on Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape, North West and KwaZulu-Natal. Farmers need to ensure that they possess a minimum [...]
Huanglongbing (HLB), or Asian greening disease, has been detected in Kenya four years after the disease vector, the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), was detected in the country. The three detections of HLB in the east of Kenya are less than 100 km apart: one in a backyard and the other two in research orchards, one [...]
Recently Air & Sea and DSV Skyservices worked together on an air charter to deliver solutions to both inbound and outbound customers. Air & Sea now offers its customers the added value of end-to-end solutions for perishables from South Africa to Europe, the Middle East, Far East and the USA, and import solutions from various markets, [...]
One of the country’s largest citrus and fruit processors has partnered with sustainable water and energy solutions provider Talbot to effectively manage wastewater at two of its fruit processing facilities. The first plant was installed and commissioned in 2019 and employs dissolved air flotation (DAF) technology as a cost-effective way of removing suspended matter from [...]
The fifth break-bulk vessel shipment of citrus from South Africa to China and Japan amid the Covid-19 outbreak has set sail. This is the first break-bulk vessel shipment in the 2020 export season - adding to the four shipments that were exported in the 2019 season. The Baltic Patriot Vessel left South Africa with 4 [...]
South African mandarins have seen harvest increases compared to the previous season of 8%. Argentinian and Turkish oranges, on the other hand, both saw declines in the harvest of 10%. Demand has been increasing as more customers, especially in Europe and North America, are purchasing products high in Vitamin C. However, due to logistical difficulties, [...]
Knockout of the Citrus CsLOB1 Gene Using CRISPR/Cas9 Confers Resistance to Citrus Canker Citrus production around the world is susceptible to challenges including diseases such as bacterial canker and Huanglongbing (HLB). Breeding programs can address some of these challenges but suffer from long crossing cycles, extended juvenility, polyembyrony and last, but not the least, polyploidy. Use [...]
“This month marks the start of the 2020 South African citrus season that will prove interesting as we navigate the uncharted territory that COVID-19 has presented to us,” says Neil Truter, who manages Quality Assurance and Grower Relations at Vanguard’s South Africa headquarters. The country is under lockdown but fortunately, agriculture activities such as growing [...]
