Agribook Agriculture Weekly: Crime wave hits Agriculture in SA and the Land Bank is on the rocks plus more important news you might have missed. (Issue 4.27)

Agribook Agriculture Weekly is a weekly blog post that covers all the important news in the farming and agriculture industry. Each week we put together a list of important news articles, blog posts and industry developments both nationally and internationally. This week we continue our focus on the impact of Covid-19 and also provide updates on global produce markets.

Photo by Al Lucca on Unsplash

National

Farmer’s Weekly reported on the wave of crime that has hit agriculture during lockdown. Farmer unions Agri SA and TLU SA put out a statement on it too.
The Covid-19 lockdown follows hot on the heels of challenges like the drought for small- to medium-scale farmers. The Herald LIVE looked at their status.
The wine and wool industries will feel relief that Stage 4, due to start at the end of this week, will allow them to operate. Farmer’s Weekly set out the concerns of these two industries. The Cape Argus has also reported on wine farmers’ fears.
Hortgro gives an overview of the deciduous fruit sector in “South Africa in uncharted waters due to Coronavirus outbreak“.
And in an article in Daily Maverick, Agbiz chief economist Wandile Sihlobo discussed “What policy interventions have been implemented to support SA agriculture?“.
An indignant Wildlife Ranching South Africa responded to moves by an NGO to ban the trade in game farming, which the NGO put in the same boat as the trade in Wuhan where Covid-19 was first detected. The article is in Afrikaans.
The National Employers Association of South Africa (NEASA) is offering help to employers with the application process for Covid-19 TERS assistance. Call 086 016 33272 or email legalhotline [at] neasa.co.za.
AMT Fresh Produce outlook on the markets. Dr Johnny van der Merwe discuss prices now as to where they were last year.
That the Land Bank is on the rocks is a worrying development for agriculture. Polity ran the story “Land Bank confirms default it has been trying to avoid“.

INTERNATIONAL

The Fresh Produce Exporters’ Forum (FPEF) newsletter gave an overview on various countries to which South Africa exports, as well as to the measures announced in those markets and the implications for South African exporters.
Fresh Plaza looks at how garlic is doing worldwide at www.freshplaza.com/article/9210965/overview-global-garlic-market/
The USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) included a report on the South African and eSwatini sugar industries this week.
The Institute for Security Studies investigates progress with the intra-African trade agreement AfCFTA in “The AfCFTA gets locked down for the year“.
The 2020 edition of The Global Report on Food Crises produced by the Global Network against Food Crises, an international alliance working to address the root causes of extreme hunger. Although South Africa is not included in the study, all our neighbours are – Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
A report from UN World Food Programme and others warns that 265m people are facing acute risk of starvation as a result of Covid-19. The Guardian reports. RT America also carried the story. See YouTube video.

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