Western Cape fruit and wine exports blossoming

Western Cape fruit and wine exports are on the rise, with the provincial government pushing for increased market access for the region’s high-quality produce.

The agri-processing sector is a key focus area for the provincial government for the next three to five years. And a key part of the Western Cape sector’s plans for growth is the promotion its brand as high-quality.

According to figures released by the provincial government on Thursday, the value of wine exports increased 78% between 2009 and last year.

In the past five years, domestic sales for natural wine reached 1.9-billion litres. According to wine producers’ body VinPro, at the end of 2014, the volume of local wine sales was at the highest level in 20 years. The 353-million litres of natural wine sales represented a 7.3% increase from 2013. More

Source: www.bdlive.co.za

Grain farmers want land plan cap scrapped

THE proposal to cap the amount of land deeds an individual might hold would affect food production and the government should consider alternative ways to remedy racial inequality in ownership, the biggest grains lobby said.

President Jacob Zuma in February introduced the Regulation of Land Holdings Bill as a way to redress economic disparities between whites and blacks that were created under apartheid rule. It proposes to limit the area of land anyone can hold to 12 000 hectares, or two title deeds. Excess land will be bought and redistributed and the limit will be applied retrospectively.

Farmers in South Africa, the continent’s biggest maize producer, were concerned about the proposed backward-looking limit on title deeds, because some create their areas under cultivation by collating as many as 10 smaller deeds, Grain SA chief executive Jannie de Villiers said last week. More

Lower quality wheat will boost production

SA’s wheat industry wants grading and planting rules for the cereal relaxed to help increase yields and revive production after farmers sowed the smallest area since 1931 this season.

Possible changes to grading terms and to a voluntary agreement that stipulates which wheat varieties producers will plant, known as release criteria, were among proposals the industry was considering, Grain SA CEO Jannie de Villiers said last week.

"The quality requirements of the milling and baking industries are too stringent," he said. Allowing farmers to plant cultivars that focused on higher yields would help their profitability, "and then hopefully they’ll start planting again. Hopefully we can produce more than half of what we need at the moment," he said. More

Source: www.bdlive.co.za

Shifting quicksands of land drama

By now it must be obvious to even the most casual of observers of SA’s land drama that every effort at reforming land ownership has failed, the degree to which is matched only by the level of dismay expressed across the nation’s classes and races. Specifically, it has failed to reform and redress land ownership and it has failed to establish an agrarian economy.

It may be that, among the African National Congress (ANC) government’s many failures, the party’s undoing will stem from its continued failure to make good on its promises of equality in land rights.

When you consider that the denial of equality of land ownership to most South Africans is being continued as a matter of policy by the party, which continues to pronounce, as the Freedom Charter reads, that "the land shall be shared among those who work it", a nationwide land grab seems either inevitable or desirable.  More

Source: www.bdlive.co.za

Why is SA unable to unlock potential maize production capacity of Eastern Cape?

BY WANDILE SIHLOBO
AT THIS time of the year many agricultural industry representatives travel across the country, doing farm visits and conducting regional meetings. About two weeks ago, I visited the small town of Matatiele, in the Eastern Cape, where I was to engage with emerging grain producers.

As I drove past the outskirts of Mthatha, I could not help but notice the fertile, green maize fields across the former Transkei. More so, I could see the joy in some farmers’ eyes when I highlighted the possible maize price outlook. It is clear that many of them are going to have fairly good yields this year, in contrast to those in the central and western parts of SA, which are experiencing severe droughts.

It is evident that the Eastern Cape experienced better climatic conditions this season than many areas in the traditional central and western maize belt of the country. Yet, this will not result in meaningful gains for national food security. The Eastern Cape, compared to other maize-producing provinces, produces a small quantity of commercial maize. In 2014, its total commercial maize contribution was a mere 0.78%, which is 111,000 tons out of 14.3-million tons produced that year, according to the National Crop Estimate (NCE) figures.

Nonetheless, many studies such as that of Benedict Mandlenkosi Gilimani, a former agricultural economics graduate researcher at Stellenbosch University, show that maize contributed significantly to household food security in the Eastern Cape. More

Source: www.bdlive.co.za

Land redistribution ‘needs new laws’

Durban - The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal is conducting public hearings on land restitution to establish better ways of fast-tracking the process, which the government has admitted is expensive and difficult to handle.

During a round table discussion held at the party’s provincial office in Durban on Tuesday, provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development MEC Cyril Xaba said R7 billion had been invested in the process of land restitution in the province, which had settled only 14 000ha.

He told representatives from land rights organisations, traditional leaders and academics the government was disappointed that nationally it had managed to settle only 8% of claims by the end of its deadline last year, instead of its 30% target. More

Source: www.iol.co.za

DTI strengthens trade with Russia

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is leading a delegation of 25 South African businesspeople to participate in the sixth Investment and Trade Initiative (ITI) to Moscow and Novosibirsk, Russia, from March 23 to 27.

The initiative would comprise investment seminars, business-to-business meetings and site visits to expose the delegation to “the way the Russians do business”.

“[This initiative aims] to strengthen trade relations between South Africa and that country, especially since the two countries are members of Brics [Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.]

Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Mzwandile Masina said, “This trade mission is an opportunity to advance South Africa’s export and investment agenda in the sectors of agriculture and agroprocessing, [as well as] food-related products.”

He further noted that the trade mission would provide a platform to promote South African products to potential new customers, while obtaining new business and penetrating new markets.

South Africa’s participation would also have a positive impact in terms of increasing export sales to and joint ventures with Russia.

“The purpose of the ITI is to advance South Africa’s export and investment agenda in Russia and to strengthen commercial and economic relations between the two countries,” Masina stated.

He explained that the immediate opportunities for South African suppliers to Russia would increasing the export of fresh produce, adding that, with an already established export base of over $250m a year for fresh fruits, especially citrus, South Africa could easily expand to fresh vegetables through the existing export networks.

Source: Cape Business News