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

Weekly summary of some News in the  Agri and Farming media.   GET YOUR MARKETING on this Page - 

While the summer grain and oilseeds production prospects for the 2023/24 season seem bleak in Southern Africa because of the excessive dryness and heatwave, the global production conditions remain reasonably optimistic. On March 14, the International Grains Council (IGC) released its monthly update of the 2023/24 global grain and oilseeds production, with some upside adjustments for significant crops. For example, the 2023/24 global maize harvest forecast at 1.2-billion tonnes, up 6% year-on-year. This improvement is due to better crop expectations in the US, Argentina, Ukraine, China, the EU, and Russia. Consequently, the stocks will also lift by 5% year-on-year to 294-million tonnes.

Since the release of the previous report of South Africa's Crop Estimate Committee (CEC) at the end of February 2024, the weather conditions across the country have remained unfavourable. Thus, we are not surprised that the CEC further lowered its production forecasts for South Africa's summer grain and oilseeds this afternoon.The CEC now forecasts South Africa's 2023/24 total grain and oilseeds production at 15,8 million tonnes, down 9% from last month and 21% lower than last season's harvest. This year's overall decline in production prospects is primarily due to poor yields, not the area reduction, as farmers tilled more land than in the 2022/23 season. 

Met planttyd in die winterreëngebied wat nader kom, moet boere besluit watter gewasse om te plant, en die “koringsom” is tans kommerwekkend en maak in sommige gebiede nie sin nie, waarsku Heleen Viljoen, ekonoom van Graan SA. “Daar is gebiede waarin winsgewendheid eers bereik word teen Desember 2024-kontrakpryse, wat dan nog moet meeding met goedkoop Russiese ingevoerde koring.” Sy sê vooruitsigte vir internasionale koringpryse waarteen plaaslike produkte moet meeding, is onseker as gevolg van Russiese koring wat die mark onderdruk weens groot voorrade. “Dit plaas druk op internasionale koringpryse, hoewel die mark tans in ’n onseker stadium is en nie in ’n duidelike prysrigting beweeg nie. In die Noordelike Halfrond is die meeste van die groot produserende lande tans in die middel van die seisoen. In Europa verskil die toestande, met die noordelike dele wat nat en koue weer ervaar, en die suidelike dele warm en droë toestande.

"It’s been warm since the 15th of December, with nothing below zero for several months,’ said Tom Warner from Domaine de Joÿ in the Southwest. ‘It’s worrying."His comments are echoed across the country, but particularly in the more northerly appellations, where growers are eyeing their vineyards with concern. "We’ve already started budding and that usually happens at the start of April," said David Depuydt of Domaine de la Genillotte in Chablis in early March. "We’re a month ahead." Figures from Meteo France starkly illustrate what vineyard owners can tell from tramping the rows every week: this winter has been almost non-existent. Temperatures are, on average, 2°C higher than usual, with February particularly mild at 3.6°C above the average – something that the body describes as "more worthy of the spring period". March, meanwhile, saw temperatures in the high teens across the entire country.

Outstanding articles of the week. Summary of some news Headlines in the Farming and Agriculture media.

Twenty four years ago this month Zimbabwe was turned upside down when Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF government sanctioned the widespread seizure of privately owned farms. Government supporters swarmed over the land evicting everyone in their wake. It was a program which saw around 6,000 commercial farmers evicted and an estimated 600,000 farm workers and their families directly and indirectly affected. READ MORE 

Farmland is still getting more expensive, but not quite as quickly as in recent years, according to the latest farmland value report from Canada’s biggest agricultural lender. Farm Credit Canada put average national farmland value growth in 2023 at 11.5 percent, down from 12.8 percent in 2022.  READ MORE 

South Africa's consumer food inflation slowed to 6,0% in February 2024, from 7,0% in the previous month. This was underpinned by the deceleration across most food products, except for "sugar, sweets and desserts", which remained roughly unchanged from the last months. READ MORE

Glyphosate is a widely used and controversial herbicide that some claim can cause cancer and other illnesses. This is intimately related to nutrient density. There seems to be an immediate connection between nutrient density on the one side — we have lost 70% of the nutrients in our fruit and vegetables over the past 70 years — and that looks very much like the 70% biodiversity loss over the same period.” READ MORE 

The current economic environment is characterised by high standards of living, and rising food, fuel, and electricity prices. This has amplified calls for the acceleration of the land reform programme. According to the World Bank, approximately 55.5% (30.3 million people) of the South African population is living in poverty while a total of 13.8 million people or 25% are experiencing food poverty.  READ MORE

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