AGRIBOOK AGRICULTURE WEEKLY: Financial relief for the Land Bank and other agricultural budget mentions, the state’s land redistribution gaining pace and the supply of diesel causing problems for the Maize industry (ISSUE 6.30)

By Craig Macaskill

Posted 2020-06-30

In Agribook Agriculture Weekly, Blog

A look at some articles of interest in the agricultural- and broader media this week …

Landbouweekblad reported (in Afrikaans) that the state has identified state land to distribute to previously disadvantaged individuals, also giving the breakdown of how much land in each of the provinces will be distributed.
The DA wants farm murders to be declared a hate crime, reports The Citizen.
Fruit South Africa and the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) established the Fruit Industry Value Chain Round Table (FIVCRT) as a platform to bring all role players together. Download its Transformation Working Group (TWG) 2020 report here.
Minister Patel sets regulation in place for implementation of Sugar Industry Master Plan.
Agbiz head of Legal Intelligence Theo Boshoff discusses South Africa’s Infrastructure Investment Plan Government regulations. His colleague Wandile Sihlobo shared thoughts on the same topic.
Read the overview about a webinar (2020, June 24) hosted by Nedbank Business Banking. Prof. Ferdi Meyer (Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP)], and Dr John Purchase (Agbiz).
The Environment, Forestry and Fisheries parliamentary committee meeting (17 June 2020) has updates and presentations by Aquaculture Association of Southern Africa, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) South Africa, and FishSA.
Well-known animal health scientist sets out a yearly plan for livestock farmers in a Farmer’s Weekly article.

Covid-19 related

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni on Wednesday tabled a supplementary Budget as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Good news for agriculture is that the budget brings some financial relief to the Land Bank. Review some of the commentary: (i) The Agri SA press release Minister Mboweni’s Special Adjustment Budget: Greater crisis is looming? (ii) Prof Johan Willemse, agricultural economist, wrote a piece for the pork industry. on the supplementary budget delivered by the minister of finance on 24 June 2020 (iii) The Agbiz newsletter provided a link to comment by Prof Raymond Parsons, Economist At The North-West University Business School.
Agbiz chief economist Wandile Sihlobo agrees that South Africa is “bleeding jobs” but that agriculture has the potential to “surprise us”.
The management and mitigation of COVID-19 infections in the workplace requires that every workplace appoints a COVID-19 Compliance Officer. Read about the Citrus Academy offering.
Agri SA calls for urgent investigation into problems with diesel supply. In an interview on etv, John Purchase (Agbiz) links this to refineries having been shut down which is bad news for the maize industry. Watch the interview with Jeremy Maggs here.
The National Emergent Redmeat Producers Organisation (NERPO) calls for the inclusion of the “missing middle farmers” in the distribution of Covid 19 relief fund. The South African Pork Producers’ Organisation carried the story in its weekly newsletter.
The National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) anticipates a shock in the rice price as a result of Covid-19. Find Abating Adverse Effects of Global Shocks on South Africa’s Rice Imports: A Case Of Covid-19 Pandemic.
Food prices have gone up during the pandemic. Watch the eNCA interview with the Competition Commission on eNCA about this.