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Agroprocessing News

Absa partnering with development finance agency to help East African coffee farmers

By: Rebecca Campbell 15th May 2024 South African banking group Absa and the International Finance Corporation (IFC – part of the World Bank group) will jointly provide a commodity trade finance facility, worth up to $60-million, to a leading global green coffee merchant, Volcafe. This facility will strengthen Volcafe’s operations... →

Poultry association calls for vaccination to prevent H7N6 avian influenza outbreak

By: Schalk Burger 13th May 2024 The South African poultry industry is calling for immediate intervention to avert an outbreak of the H7N6 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) that it is grappling with, following a year of significant losses, including the culling of 9.5-million birds. While traditionally reliant... →

High Court dismisses embattled Tongaat’s appeal on levies owed to industry

By: Marleny Arnoldi 8th May 2024 After not paying levies owed to the South African Sugar Association (Sasa) since October 2022, sugar producer Tongaat Hulett has again been ordered by the Durban High Court to pay the outstanding levies. The levies are essential to the economic survival of many sugarcane farmers and the... →

World Bank suggests actions for lower-emission agricultural land use

By: Marleny Arnoldi 7th May 2024 The World Bank has outlined in a report the actions that every country can take to make the global agrifood system more sustainable and achieve markable reductions in greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. The bank says the world is faced with a largely misunderstood reality in that the system that... →

Scientists explore how to improve crop yields – on Mars

By: Reuters 2nd May 2024 For future human bases or colonies on Mars to be self-sustaining, a reliable source of home-grown food will be a must. It simply would be too costly and risky to rely upon rocket deliveries to meet the food needs of colonists. With this in mind, scientists are exploring ways to optimize space... →

Critical minerals, food crops at risk of climate disruption by 2050, report shows

By: Darren Parker 30th April 2024 More than 70% of critical minerals needed for the transition to net zero emissions will be at risk from climate disruption by 2050, professional services firm PwC says. The firm's latest report, titled ‘Climate Risks to Nine Key Commodities Report’, shows that the production of copper, cobalt and... →

A graph showing the heat stress and drought riks of various commodities

CGA, ECDC to spend R1.2m on capacitating ten Eastern Cape citrus farmers for exports

By: Marleny Arnoldi 29th April 2024 The Grower Development Company of the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa (CGA) has partnered with the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) to bolster commercialisation prospects for black farmers producing citrus in the province. The 18-month agreement signed between the... →

Astral to post 465% rise in earnings as operations normalise

By: Marleny Arnoldi 29th April 2024 Integrated poultry producer Astral Foods has advised that its earnings per share (EPS) for the six months ended March 31 will increase by between 465% and 475% year-on-year. This will result in interim EPS of between 913c and 930c apiece, compared with EPS of 162c in the first half of the prior... →

Astral Foods broiler house

South Africa makes second WTO complaint over EU citrus rules

By: Reuters 25th April 2024 South Africa has lodged a complaint against the European Union's (EU's) citrus black spot (CBS) regulations, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said on Wednesday. The EU is a major market for South African citrus fruit, accounting for a third of its citrus exports and the move is the African... →

Fly farmer Maltento opens laboratory to expand insect research

By: Irma Venter 24th April 2024 Fly farmer Maltento has unveiled a new laboratory at its insect breeding facility in Cape Town. The laboratory has been built to expand Maltento’s research on insect biotechnology, and aims to position the company as a leader in the functional ingredient and sustainability space. →

Dominic Malan and Dean Smorenburg

Research group reports that the latest El Niño had a significant impact on South Africa

By: Rebecca Campbell 19th April 2024 A South African research group has reported that the 2023/24 El Niño phenomenon was the fourth strongest yet recorded, and that it had a noticeable impact on South Africa. The research team, designated the El Niño Southern Oscillation Reference Group (ENSO-RG), was convened by the Council for... →

South Africa to keep anti-dumping duties on chicken imports from US

By: Bloomberg 18th April 2024 South Africa’s trade minister approved a recommendation to maintain anti-dumping duties on frozen bone-in chicken portions originating in or imported from the US. Following an investigation that started in December 2022, the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa, known as... →

South Africa challenges EU on citrus export restrictions

By: Bloomberg 15th April 2024 South Africa has taken a preliminary step toward filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the European Union (EU) over its treatment of citrus imports from the country, people familiar with the situation said. Two years ago, the EU imposed requirements for additional... →

Woolworths launches regenerative farming practices campaign

By: Schalk Burger 12th April 2024 Retail company Woolworths has launched a Farming for the Future campaign, with the aim of encouraging farmers to implement regenerative farming practices. By partnering with farmers who adopt restorative practices, Woolworths seeks to amplify its impact and foster a community of agricultural... →

Emerging mohair farmers boosted by new Eastern Cape support programme

By: Rebecca Campbell 11th April 2024 A new initiative, the Mohair Industry Support Programme (MISP), was launched in the Eastern Cape province on Thursday. MISP is a result of the signing of a three-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) and the Mohair Empowerment Trust (MET).... →

South Africa's science, innovation dept launches circular minerals, metals initiative

By: Darren Parker 11th April 2024 South Africa's Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), through the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has launched the first of three new government-led collaborative circular economy initiatives focusing on priority economic sectors that were identified by government in... →

Photo by Creamer Media
DSI technology innovation deputy director general Mmboneni Muofhe

Sibanye’s post-mining agri initiative seeks commercial farming, agribusiness partners

By: Marleny Arnoldi 5th April 2024 Nonprofit initiative Bokamoso Ba Rona has published a request for expression of interest, in seeking to partner with established commercial farmers and/or agribusinesses to spearhead Bokamoso’s catalytic projects. Bokamoso Ba Rona, which is Sesotho for ‘Our Future’, was founded by multinational... →

TPT outlines actions to support 15% growth in citrus exports during 2024 season

By: Terence Creamer 4th April 2024 Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) reports that it has recruited 200 additional cargo coordinators and has set up dedicated lanes for refrigerated containers at all KwaZulu-Natal container terminals in preparation for the citrus fruit export season, which begins this month. Congestion at the country’s... →

InfraCo Africa invests $12m to scale up solar irrigation offering in sub-Saharan Africa

By: Schalk Burger 2nd April 2024 Sub-Saharan African private sustainable infrastructure project developer InfraCo Africa has made a $12-million equity investment in climate-smart agriculture equipment company SunCulture to scale the latter’s solar irrigation offering across the region. The investment is part of an oversubscribed... →

African food sustainability needs greener production, less waste, PwC study shows

By: Schalk Burger 2nd April 2024 Greener food production methods and the avoidance of food waste are required to future-proof Africa’s food supply and to meet the expected future demand for nutrition in a sustainable way, says professional services firm PwC in its 'The sustainable food revolution: Future-proofing the world’s... →

Safda recognised as sugar industry member under gazetted regulations

By: Schalk Burger 28th March 2024 Industry organisation the South African Farmers Development Association (Safda) has been recognised as a member of the sugar industry after the Sugar Act transitional regulations governing the South African sugar industry were made permanent following their publishing in a Government Gazette. The... →

NWU partners with IAEA to boost nutrition in Africa

By: Rebecca Campbell 28th March 2024 South Africa’s North-West University (NWU) has become the lead host institution for Anglophone African countries in a pan-African initiative launched by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), intended to build capacity across the continent for scientific research into micronutrients.... →

South African food inflation continues to decelerate

By: Rebecca Campbell 28th March 2024 South African food and non-alcoholic beverage (NAB) inflation (hereafter to be referred to just as food inflation, for short) decelerated for the third month in succession, in February, the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Production (BFAP) think tank has highlighted, in its latest ‘Food... →

South Africa’s maize production to dip, but remain sufficient to cover local demand

By: Marleny Arnoldi 26th March 2024 While South Africa’s maize production will be about 2.1-million tons lower this year, there is still enough to meet local consumption and supply neighbouring countries that are having difficult growing seasons owing to adverse weather, financial services firm Standard Bank says. According to... →

Stats SA has overestimated agriculture’s GDP decline last year, says think tank

By: Rebecca Campbell 25th March 2024 Independent think tank, the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP), believes that the year-on-year (y-o-y) decline in the country’s agricultural sector gross domestic product (GDP) last year, as reported by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), is seriously in error. BFAP analysed the... →

First-quarter agriculture sentiment largely influenced by drought, public infrastructure deterioration

By: Marleny Arnoldi 25th March 2024 The Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz) and Industrial Development Corporation’s Agribusiness Confidence Index (ACI) has remained unchanged in the first quarter of the year at a level of 40. This followed a deterioration of ten points to 40 in the fourth quarter of last year. →

Photo by Creamer Media's Marleny Arnoldi
Lime farm, in Hoedspruit

CGA announces new chairperson

By: Marleny Arnoldi 25th March 2024 Industry body the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa (CGA) has appointed Gerrit van der Merwe chairperson for the next two-year term. Outgoing chairperson Hannes de Waal will now become one of two vice-chairpersons, as is normal in the board’s leadership rotational structure. De... →

CGA chairperson Gerrit van der Merwe

South Africa Wine announces deep-dive research initiative into improving Chenin Blanc value chain

By: Marleny Arnoldi 20th March 2024 Industry body South Africa Wine has partnered with the South African Grape and Wine Research Institute, the Chenin Blanc Association of South Africa and Stellenbosch University (SU) to advance the prominence and economic viability of Chenin Blanc wine. The collaborative effort between the... →

Maltento aiming to bolster sustainability efforts

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 18th March 2024 Maltento CEO Dean Smorenburg and commercial director Dominic Malan were joined by Western Cape Premier Alan Winde and Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis on a tour of the fly-farm’s facilities in Epping, Cape Town on March 18. This follows a recent announcement from sustainable functional... →

An image of Maltento CEO Dean Smorenburg, Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis and Cape Town premier Alan Winde

Maltento CEO Dean Smorenburg, Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis and Cape Town premier Alan Winde at the facility

Rain-fed agriculture emissions research shows climate-smart interventions can help

By: Schalk Burger 15th March 2024 Preliminary findings of a two-year study from the University of the Free State (UFS) Kenilworth Experimental Farm indicate that climate-smart agriculture interventions, such as legume rotation and no-till practices, have the potential to reduce the intensity of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions,... →

UFS agronomy researcher Dr Jerry Dlamini

White biotechnology solutions highlighted

15th March 2024 Market intelligence specialists IDTechEx reported in February that handbags made of mushroom leather and biodegradable foodware are two examples of how white biotechnology can produce functional products that look good. White biotechnology uses enzymes and microorganisms to produce value-added... →

Mushrooms next to two manufactured leather rounds

SO MUSHROOM FOR DEVELOPMENT The development of leather form mushrooms and other white biotechnologies bodes well for a greener textile future

SAPA says rebates for chicken imports are unjustified, unnecessary

By: Marleny Arnoldi 11th March 2024 The South African Poultry Association (SAPA) says it is puzzled by the International Trade Administration Commission’s (Itac’s) recommendation to Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel that certain rebates for frozen poultry imports could be implemented to curb alleged shortages... →

El Niño scorches Southern Africa with driest February on record

By: Bloomberg 8th March 2024 A swathe of Southern Africa suffered the driest February in decades that wiped out crops, precipitated power shortages and threatened to send already high food prices surging further. Last month, large parts of Zambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe had the least rainfall — or close to it — since records... →

South African food inflation continued to decelerate in January

By: Rebecca Campbell 27th February 2024 In January, for the second month in a row, South African food and non-alcoholic beverage (NAB) inflation (hereafter to be referred to as food inflation, for short) declined, in year-on-year terms, the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) has reported, in its latest ‘Food Inflation... →

Winter and summer conditions impacted on grain producers – Grain SA

By: Schalk Burger 26th February 2024 The current conditions in the summer grain regions are having a significant economic impact on grain producers, with the summer grain production regions experiencing major challenges with drought conditions. The extreme heat and dry conditions caused the harvest to deteriorate much faster than... →

Innovative interventions needed to turn around underperforming growth trajectory – Agbiz

By: Schalk Burger 22nd February 2024 Against the backdrop of a profoundly challenging macroeconomic environment where South Africa’s economy is expected to continue underperforming, averaging at 1.6% growth in the next three years, innovative interventions are needed to turn the current trajectory around, said the Agricultural... →

SA Canegrowers maintains sugar tax increase will destroy jobs

By: Marleny Arnoldi 20th February 2024 Ahead of Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s Budget Speech on February 21, industry body the South African Cane Growers’ Association (SA Canegrowers) has called on National Treasury to prioritise measures to aid economic recovery and job retention in the sector, including by not increasing the... →

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