German Agriculture Minister Julia Kloeckner has welcomed the possibility of looser restrictions on genetically engineered crops as an “overdue modernization” of EU policy. She is right – and it is not only Europe that needs to rethink its approach.
Agriculture is one of the sectors in which the South African government aims to increase the participation of black people, and also to ensure that farming of all kinds will assist to revitalise the rural economy and create jobs.
The Beneficiary Selection Criteria for land reform that were first suggested by the Presidential Advisory Panel on land reform is a first step in ensuring gender diversity. The policy proposes that the government should have a bias towards women and youth in its land reform process. In the 700 000 hectares of land that the government is in the process of releasing, we will be able to judge if women and youth are genuinely prioritized.
The Central Energy Fund’s preliminary estimates suggest that South Africa’s petrol (95 ULP inland) and diesel (0.05% wholesale inland) prices could increase by 57 cents per litre (c/l) and 48 (c/l), respectively, on 03 March 2021. This adjustment means the retail price of petrol could rise to R16,24 per litre from the current level of R15,67 per litre. Simultaneously, the wholesale diesel price could increase to R14,06 per litre from R13,58 per litre in February 2021.
The drive I take each December from Pretoria to the Eastern Cape is a constant reminder, not only of the agricultural economic potential of the Eastern Cape, but also the poverty and unemployment that plague the province. Agriculture holds potential to change the fortunes of the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo and other rural regions.
