The broad challenges that continue to weigh on agribusiness leaders’ minds in this province are the threat of deteriorating municipal service delivery, corruption in public offices, and failures in the network industries (roads, rail, water, electricity, and ports).
Elsenburg and Peritum are good examples of functioning agricultural colleges in South Africa.
While some farmers in the grains and oilseeds industry benefited from the unusually long period of large yields and higher prices, higher input costs since the start of 2020 have limited the benefits.
To understand the real challenges of farmers, it is necessary to spend a considerable amount of time on the ground talking to farmers and getting a better feel of the markets.
Ahead of this conference, the ANC released policy discussion papers, one of which noted that “agriculture remains an important sector of the SA economy. It holds the potential to uplift many poor South Africans out of poverty through increased food production, vibrant economic activity and job creation”.
While farmers were able to manage the rising feed costs in the past two years to an extent, the current season has presented new challenges — a vast outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease as well as continued occurrences of swine flu and avian flu outbreaks.
The Chinese National Crop Variety Approval Committee released two standards that clear the path for cultivating genetically modified crops in the country. This has been the missing piece in the regulations for the commercial growing of genetically modified maize and soybeans in China.
The latest policy discussion document published by the African National Congress (ANC) presents a positive change from the ambiguous agriculture policy the South African governing party has maintained in the recent past.
I am an agricultural economist and writer from South Africa.
I use this blog to reflect on agricultural economic matters in South Africa and worldwide.
My new book, “Finding Common Ground: Land, Equity and Agriculture“, is available in all major bookstores in South Africa and all eBooks platforms.
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