AGRIBOOK AGRICULTURE WEEKLY: Covid-19’s effect on global coffee production, employment opportunities that arise from crises, discussions around post-Covid-19 growth and how cannabis has flourished with cigarettes being illegal (ISSUE 6.23)

We look at what pages on the website were most visited this week, as well as stories of interest in the general agriculture media.

Top pages this week:

1. Landing page
2. Finance for New Farmers and SMMEs
3. Poultry
4. Agriculture in the Provinces
5. Vegetables
6. Abattoirs and the Meat Industry
7. Beef Cattle Farming
8. Agricultural Education and Training
9. Macadamia Nuts
10. Business Directory

The stories …

International

• Fresh Plaza provided at overview of the global melon market.
• The Conversations has two articles of interest to other African countries, “How incoherent farm policies undermine Kenya’s transformation agenda” (June 21) and “Why Nigeria’s African swine fever outbreak will hit farmers hard” (June 18).
• Among the US Department of Agriculture’s reports released, of interest to us, was “South Africa: South Africa’s Declining Trend in Sorghum Production to Continue“
• Covid-19 is making coffee growing unprofitable. Find the Business Report story here.

Covid-19 related

• The website https://covid19-projections.com covers “more than 70 countries” which cover 6.4 billion people and 99% of all global Covid-19 deaths. In his Daily Insider, Alec Hogg reflected on the data for South Africa. The predictions are for just below 32 000 deaths, “that’s a near 20-fold increase from the current level”.
• EcoWatch tells us of that a “New WWF Report Calls for Protecting Nature to Prevent Future Pandemics“.

 

National

• It was a 13-year old farm boy from the Free State who invented the footpump sanitiser for Covid-19 during the first week of lockdown. Suddenly employment opportunities opened and people had work again! Find the story (in Afrikaans) on the Landbouweekblad website here. It includes a YouTube video.
• South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) governor Lesetja Kganyago on Thursday said the country had nearly all the ingredients needed to obtain growth and create jobs and lift itself out of poverty post-Covid-19. Find his speech and analysis on the Agbiz website. The Eye Witness News news report on the speech is here.
• Bizcommunity has two articles of particular interest to agriculture: Above normal rainfall levels is expected for 2020 winter season, and the establishment of a new body, affiliated to AFASA, formed “to drive transformation in the poultry industry“.
• The Citrus Grower Development Company June 2020 newsletter can be accessed here.
• The debate on the transport of live animals continues. Read the Farmer’s Weekly article on recent developments which includes a High Court ban on the exports and industry body responses.
• Agbiz chief economist Wandile Sihlobo wrote for Finance 24 saying that agriculture doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel to boost growth in the agriculture sector after lockdown, because all the measures to do so are already in the National Development Plan (NDP). These include utilising underused/failed agricultural land, boosting exports and investing in the value chain.

Covid-19 related

• The Weekend Argus ran a story on how cannabis is doing very well at this time when cigarettes are illegal.
• A very useful place for Covid-19 news and measures, particularly for the fresh produce industry, is- www.fpef.co.za/covid-19-news/.
• The Conversation looked at four priority points the country should focus on as a result of Covid-19.
• Amidst the regular reports of lockdown funds not happening, the news of some 3 000 KZN farmers whose financial help had landed was welcome. The Sunday Tribune report is here.

Photo by Dawid Zawiła on Unsplash.