Matatiele duo wins Living Planet Award 2019
Two women who are the powerhouse behind a non-profit, social enterprise organisation, Environmental and Rural Solutions, based in Matatiele in the Eastern Cape have been named the winners of WWF South Africa’s Living Planet Award for 2019.
An account of a morning with the Masisizane Fund
We received (and accepted) the invitation from Nontobeko Vilakati for the 2019 Masisizane Fund Annual Client Market Day.
More readers write (a sample of recent requests)
Following on from the previous reader’s letter we focused on, here are some more samples of what readers are asking.
Commercial farmers: brainstorming solutions
Last week the media was invited to the TLU SA Economic Sustainability Summit.
Agbiz: Three practical steps to make the SONA vision a reality
The State of the Nation address delivered by President Ramaphosa set out five fundamental goals for South Africa. Three of these goals, namely eliminating hunger, growing the economy faster than the population growth rate and creating 2 million job opportunities, are partially premised on economic growth in the agricultural and agribusiness subsectors.
Jobs Fund assists Sekororo farmers to find markets for their produce
A programme supported by the Jobs Fund’s is benefitting black small-scale farmers in Sekororo, a rural community in Limpopo province that produces food that is sold all over South Africa.
Exporting: 8 lessons from tiny Holland
One can understand the United States of America, straddling a continent from Pacific to Atlantic Ocean, being the world’s biggest agricultural exporter, but how does the Netherlands (also called Holland), a country 273 times smaller than the USA, come in at position 2?
A reader from Limpopo writes in
We receive some ten emails a week from people looking for help on one agricultural issue or another. It was when we received two in succession about pigs that we decided to do an article.
New cabinet, cool heads?
The face of Thoko Didiza greeted anyone who opened the 2004/2005 National Agricultural Directory and its Afrikaans brother, the Nasionale Landbougids, our first agricultural publication. At that time Didiza was the Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs, a position she retained through two terms, from 1999 to 2006.
Can technology solve the biggest challenges to your farm?
South Africa’s farmers are facing a challenging economic climate which seems to be forcing many medium-sized farms to amalgamate to form more viable commercial units. Nevertheless, if yours is a smaller-scale operation and you are prepared to review your farming methods, you have a better chance of succeeding in these more demanding market conditions.