Weeklikse Afrikaanse Landbou Nuusoorsig - Die Afrikaanse Nuus is die afgelope paar dae op AGRI NEWS NET geplaas, saam met nog ander artikels. 

Farmers today needs 40% more financing than they did two years ago to be able to produce the same amount. This is due to rising input costs and market price fluctuations, among other things. Roux Wildenboer, head of agriculture at Absa Corporate and Investment Bank (CIB), says that, due to the cyclical nature of agriculture and the great volatility to which the sector is exposed, agricultural financing can no longer be done in the more conventional way. Absa CIB is also doing ever more business in Africa and accounts for about R1 billion of the agricultural loan book of almost R45 billion. The bank recently granted financing of $30 million (R543 million) to a cashew plant in the Ivory Coast, and also finances coffee beans from Uganda and cotton from Tanzania.

President Ramaphosa volg nie soseer ʼn beleid van toegeeflikheid en onderhandeling versoening en paai nie. Inteendeel, dit is onduidelik watter tipe beleid mnr Ramaphosa enigsins voorstaan. Wat wel duidelik is, is dat mnr Ramaphosa homself al meer vervreem van sy ondersteuners sowel as diegene wat hom ʼn kans wou gee. In 2019, mnr Ramaphosa se glorietydperk net nadat hy president geword het, het meningspeilings op daardie stadium aangedui dat 8% wit kiesers vir die ANC sou stem. Hoe hoog die Ramaphoria op die stadium was is dat amper 23% van wit kiesers aangedui het dat hulle mnr Ramaphosa ondersteun. Die steun is nie onlangs getoets nie maar sal dit waarskynlik ʼn lae enkelsyfer wees. Oor enkele dae is dit Vryheidsdag. Dit het sy ontstaan in ʼn Nasionale Akkoord wat die gevolg was van onderhandelinge tussen voormalige vyande en die verkiesing van 27 April 1994, wat 29 jaar gelede plaasgevind het. 

The Bureau for Food and Agriculture Policy (BFAP) on Tuesday highlighted, in its latest 'Food Inflation Brief', that South African food and non-alcoholic beverage (NAB) inflation (hereafter, shortened to food inflation) last month increased by a full percentage point, in month-on-month (m-o-m) terms. In year-on-year (y-o-y) terms, it was up 14%. This figure of 14% was almost exactly twice March’s headline consumer price index (CPI) inflation figure of 7.1%. Food inflation contributed 2.4 percentage points to the y-o-y CPI headline inflation figure (and 0.2 percentage points to the m-o-m CPI headline inflation of 1%).

Industry body the Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz) has urged the South African government to finally take a firm stance against the injustices prevailing in the world, and align the country with its existing and potential trading partners. Chairperson Francois Strydom and CEO Theo Boshoff, during a recent council meeting, commented on the changing geopolitics globally and South Africa’s ambiguous foreign policy, which seems to support Russia. As such, South Africa risks strong commercial relationships it has with key regions of the world that have stood up against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Strydom believes government and other policy influencers should be careful not to risk trade and investment relations with Western countries, among others, that have taken many years to cultivate and have served the economy well.

The "evidence" that former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter used to implicate top ANC Cabinet members in the looting of Eskom are wild and untested allegations that came from a shadowy intelligence operative implicated in apartheid-era crimes. De Ruyter said there was evidence that Eskom had become a "feeding trough" for the ANC and that a "high-level politician" was part of the looting of Eskom. He wouldn't say who it was.

 Implementing Ramokgopa’s plan may undermine South Africa’s international climate change commitments set by its carbon emissions reduction targets, and jeopardise $8.5-billion of international finance pledged to support the country’s Just Energy Transition programme. READ MORE -

“There should be a major overhaul of the land management information and systems as well as timely support interventions at a point when the land is transferred to ensure its productive use. Furthermore, there is a pressing need to bring resolution to the nearly 7,000 land claims still outstanding, as noted by the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights; and the government needs to embark on an initiative aimed at identifying and distributing farms to young black individuals with aspirations of becoming commercial farmers.” READ MORE 

An aggregate of analyses of the nutritional content of UK and US fruit and vegetable crops between 1950 and 1999 revealed a consistent modest decline in micronutrient content of vegetables, along with a decline in both macronutrient and micronutrient quality in grains over an 80-year period. There are multiple causes behind this. The first is the ‘dilution’ effect, where increasing yields from chemical fertiliser result in a reduction of other nutrients. READ MORE 

In what is considered the ‘most comprehensive’ analysis yet of the benefits and risks of consuming animal source foods, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) concludes that meat, eggs and milk offer ‘crucial’ sources of much-needed nutrients which cannot easily be obtained from plant-based foods.

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