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Erasmus says the news section of the 11 December issue of Farmer’s Weekly consists of an article about the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic had on the illicit liquor trade in South Africa. She adds that even though South Africans are now allowed to buy liquor from liquor stores, the habit that was created during the hard lockdown to buy beverages on the illicit market has remained in operation. She says according to a report released by the Euromonitor, this illicit liquor market is estimated to the value of R12,9 billion. Erasmus says this amount is about 15% of South Africa’s total liquor market. The CEO of the South African Liquor Brand Owners' Association, Kurt Moore, states that it will be a difficult task to “roll back some of the bad habits that were created during the time when people had to resort to buying their liquor from these illicit sellers”.

Furthermore, the masterplan of the sugar industry has been signed into action. Erasmus adds that one of the first points that will be addressed is to ensure that the local industry is protected against sugar that is sometimes imported into the country at cheaper prices compared to local prices. She explains that this plan has been in the pipelines for some time and can hopefully rectify some of the damage done to the industry over the last 20 years.

Another article to look forward to is an article about the rabbit meat industry in South Africa. Erasmus says the country’s only certified and compliant rabbit abattoir was liquidated last year. She says this had a negative effect on rabbit farmers’ ability to market their meat. However, a company called P349 bought the abattoir and is at the moment slaughtering about 44 000 rabbits a month. Meanwhile, the director of the Rabbit Association of South Africa, Hennie Viljoen, says that there is a much higher demand for rabbit meat in South Africa than what the industry is currently supplying. The hope is that now that the abattoir has been reopened it will inspire new farmers to invest in rabbit farming.

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