Engineering News | Agriculture

https://staging1.creamermedia.com

Advertise on this page? Click Here to Learn More

Farming Economics 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... →

Data, drones can improve local agriculture

3rd May 2024 Smart technology, powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and unmanned vehicles, can counter various challenges in the agricultural sector, boosting productivity, reducing costs and assisting in preserving precious resources, says drone technology company DJI product manager Ruan Botha.... →

An image of DJI product manager Ruan Botha

RUAN BOTHA Innovative solutions are required for long-term sustainability and growth

Access to farming equipment boosts mechanisation

By: Nadine Ramdass 3rd May 2024 Agricultural technology company Hello Tractor, celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, aims to improve small-scale farming practices through its app Hello Tractor, which facilitates increased access to farming equipment. With a core focus on improving African agriculture through... →

An image of farm equipment working on a farm

FARM MECHANISATION Farm equipment can supplement the need for physical labour, minimising the impact of labour shortages on small-scale farms

Can South Africa turn around 30 years of real economy underperformance?

By: Terence Creamer 26th April 2024 In this essay, Terence Creamer reflects on the factors that have shaped South Africa’s real-economy sectors of manufacturing, mining and agriculture over the past 30 years and considers ways to end the economy’s persistent underperformance →

African Risk Capacity to pay out insurance to drought-affected Southern African farmers

By: Marleny Arnoldi 17th April 2024 Farmers in Mozambique and Zambia are being impacted by one of the worst droughts in decades, United Nations (UN) assistant secretary-general Reena Ghelani has said as she met with stakeholders to organise food and cash assistance in countries affected by the drastic El Niño-induced weather. She... →

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... →

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

Farm uses electricity generated from sugar waste

5th April 2024 A farm in the Czech Republic is showing how valuable food crops can be grown using heat and electricity that are generated using biogas produced from agricultural waste. The farm at Suchohrdly, about 40 km south west of Brno, in Czech Republic, meets its own energy needs by producing biogas from... →

Association expects higher export volumes across all citrus fruits

By: Marleny Arnoldi 2nd April 2024 As the citrus export season starts this month, the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa (CGA) is confident that 37.9-million 15 kg cartons of lemons will be exported to key markets, which is an increase of 7% year-on-year. Lemon exports have more than doubled since 2016. →

Chicken industry needs no tariff rebates because there is no shortage, Sapa stresses

By: Darren Parker 27th March 2024 Executives from the South African Poultry Association (Sapa) met with Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel last week to discuss, among other matters, tariff rebates on chicken imports that were introduced as a safeguard against potential shortages on the back of bird flu... →

El Nino may see first South Africa white-corn imports since 2017

By: Reuters 27th March 2024 South Africa may import significant amounts of white corn, used to make a staple food, for the first time since 2017 as the El Nino weather pattern withers the crop, the chief economist for the main farming business association said. Dry and unseasonably hot weather that’s persisted across much... →

Cape Town MPT records 43% volume increase in agri-bulk

By: Sabrina Jardim 18th March 2024 The Cape Town Multi-Purpose Terminal (MPT) has increased volume throughput in the agricultural bulk sector by 43% in the year-to-date. In January, the terminal handled 25 704 t of agricultural bulk commodities, an increase of 72% compared with the same period last year. The Cape Town MPT handles,... →

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... →

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... →

SolarSaver adding battery energy storage to two dairies in Creighton Valley

By: Schalk Burger 25th January 2024 Solar photovoltaic (PV) installation company SolarSaver has added batteries to the existing grid-tied installation at Burnview Dairy to create a hybrid system. It will also add batteries to the Creighton Valley Cheese Company's grid-tied installation to increase its output by 50 kW. SolarSaver... →

The solar instllation at the Creighton Valley Cheese Company

Companies launch programme, help empower Zambian rural population

By: Sabrina Jardim 22nd January 2024 Agribusiness company Schweizer Agriculture and seed company Seedco Zambia International have launched a nationwide horticulture training programme under the Schweizer Agriculture' Poverty Alleviation and Rural Development (PARD) consortium. The implementation of the training programme involves... →

An image depicting people standing around a sign

International agricultural programme designed to empower Zambia’s rural population.

ACI dips to levels last seen at start of Covid-19 as industry buckles under challenges

By: Marleny Arnoldi 11th December 2023 The Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz)/Industrial Development Corporation Agribusiness Confidence Index (ACI) deteriorated by ten points to 40 in the fourth quarter of the year. Notably, Agbiz chief economist Wandile Sihlobo says, this is its lowest level since the second quarter of 2020,... →

Agbiz optimistic about market expansion with addition of new Brics members

By: Marleny Arnoldi 5th December 2023 With more countries to become members of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (Brics) grouping, the South African agricultural industry will seek to deepen trade with these countries, particularly Saudi Arabia as a $20-billion importer of agricultural produce every year. The... →

Agbiz CEO Theo Boshoff

Agriculture records good year of income, jobs growth in 2022

By: Marleny Arnoldi 29th November 2023 Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) finds in its latest Agriculture Survey for 2022 that the sector generated R450-billion in income for the year, compared with R404-billion in income generated for 2021. This 11.2% increase in income was driven by the animals and animal products industry, which... →

PepsiCo’s Kgodiso Fund gets behind agri-tech platform Khula!

By: Marleny Arnoldi 17th November 2023 Multinational food and beverage group PepsiCo has announced an investment by its independent fund Kgodiso Development Fund into agri-tech company Khula! To support sustainable finance and market access opportunities for emerging farmers. Kgodiso exists to empower emerging farmers and help them... →

TWK posts lower earnings amid global market pressures

By: Marleny Arnoldi 15th November 2023 Diversified agriculture and forestry company TWK Agri has posted lower earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of R620-million from continuing operations, marking a 7.1% year-on-year decrease for the financial year ended August 31. The group generated Ebitda of... →

Transnet, deciduous fruit industry cooperating to improve export season logistics performance

By: Schalk Burger 8th November 2023 State-owned Transnet and its subsidiary organisations are engaging weekly with various fruit industry organisations, namely Hortgro, the South African Table Grape Industry and the Fresh Produce Exporters' Forum, at a strategic and operational level to exchange information on expected fruit flows... →

Company advancing agriculture objectives

By: Simone Liedtke 3rd November 2023 Amid mounting environmental challenges and the impact of climate change on crop yields and quality, Canadian multinational McCain Foods is embracing so-called regenerative agriculture. This ecosystem-based approach is at the heart of the company's efforts, and aims to transform farming practices... →

CROP CHALLENGE Climate extremes have adversely affected potato crops worldwide

Two major international agencies launch joint ‘Atoms4Food’ initiative

By: Rebecca Campbell 19th October 2023 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) launched, in Rome, in Italy, on Wednesday, their flagship Atoms4Food initiative. This will increase the use of nuclear technologies to strengthen global food security. The IAEA and FAO... →

IAEA director-general Rafael Mariano Grossi and FAO director-general Qu Dongyu

Solar pumps can increase crop yield

13th October 2023 A new study, led by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) under the research project Renewables for African Agriculture (RE4AFAGRI), published in Environmental Research Letters, finds that standalone solar photovoltaic (PV) irrigation systems have the potential to meet... →

South African food inflation continued its downward trend in August

By: Rebecca Campbell 2nd October 2023 Food and non-alcoholic beverage (NAB) inflation (hereafter to be referred to simply as food inflation) in South Africa continued to decelerate in August, in year-on-year (y-o-y) terms, the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) has reported, in its latest Food Inflation Brief. Y-o-y food... →

RCL Foods culls 410 000 chickens amid bird flu outbreak

By: Reuters 28th September 2023 RCL Foods said on Thursday its poultry unit Rainbow has culled 410 000 chickens due to the country's worst outbreak of avian flu, heightening fears of chicken meat and egg shortages. The outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), a bird flu which spreads rapidly in an infected flock... →

Organisations warn suboptimal land reform is among factors impacting agri sustainability

By: Marleny Arnoldi 27th September 2023 Although the South African agriculture sector has made some respectable gains on growth and development in recent years, there are threats on the horizon that could negate the gains of the last decade, say research organisations the Bureau for Economic Research (BER) and the Bureau for Food and... →

Nithio invests in farming and irrigation technology

By: Darren Parker 26th September 2023 African energy finance platform Nithio has invested in solar irrigation and farming technology solutions company SunCulture. The investment was made through Nithio investment vehicle Nithio FI, which is part of the Productive Use Appliance Financing Facility (PUAFF), which catalyses the uptake of... →

ADF approves $20m grant to drive investment in climate-smart agriculture in Mozambique

By: Darren Parker 19th September 2023 The African Development Fund (ADF), the African Development Bank’s (AfDB’s) concessional lending arm, has approved a grant of $19.98-million to finance the implementation of Mozambique’s Economic Acceleration and Governance Support Programme. This funding is the first of two successive general... →

Agriculture was the fastest growing sector of the SA economy in the second quarter

By: Rebecca Campbell 11th September 2023 The Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) has, in its brief report 'Perspectives on Agriculture’s Performance in Q2 of 2023', highlighted the contribution of the agricultural sector to South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) during the second quarter of this year (2Q23). While total... →

Second shift at Rainbow’s Hammarsdale facility to boost capacity, jobs

By: Cameron Mackay 4th September 2023 Local poultry company Rainbow on August 28 “revived” a second operational shift at its Hammarsdale P2 processing plant in KwaZulu-Natal, while also commemorating the facility’s 60th year anniversary. Rainbow MD Marthinus Stander tells Engineering News this “revival” forms part of a signficant... →

Rainbow’s R220-million investment was used to increase capacity at Hammarsdale

Farmers urged to prepare for El Niño to trigger record-high temperatures

By: Darren Parker 1st September 2023 South Africans have experienced an unusually warm and wet winter, but climate experts are warning that this summer will be one of the hottest and driest on record, which could have a significant impact, particularly on the agriculture sector. The US National Centers for Environmental Prediction,... →

South African food inflation continued to decrease in July, but still far above CPI inflation

By: Rebecca Campbell 28th August 2023 The Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) has, in its latest 'Food Inflation Brief', highlighted that South Africa’s food and non-alcoholic beverage (NAB) inflation – hereafter to be referred to simply as food inflation – continued to decelerate in July. However, it also remained far... →

Panel agrees agriculture can only grow through impactful collaboration

By: Marleny Arnoldi 24th August 2023 With the South African agriculture sector not enjoying the same level of State support as many of the countries it is expected to compete with globally, it is vital that agribusinesses at least be enabled to operate and support one another, a panel of speakers have agreed. The speakers... →

Logistics fixes critical for better agricultural outlook up to 2023

By: Marleny Arnoldi 17th August 2023 Research organisation the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) finds in its latest outlook for the agriculture sector over 2023 to 2032 that the sector is experiencing mounting pressure and challenges that are hampering the extent to which it can continue contributing to gross domestic... →

About

Engineering News is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa
Polity

Newsletters

Sign up for our FREE daily email newsletter

Receive daily sector news alerts

More

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Engineering News is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options

Subscribe