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The 21 May issue of the magazine consists of a story stating that a warning has been issued for Southern African countries about the brown locust outbreak which is threatening food production in several countries. Erasmus says that Dr. Gerhard Verdoorn of Croplife South Africa, states that recent huge outbreaks of brown locusts in Southern Africa could lead to a humanitarian crisis. Verdoorn further describes the outbreak as an outbreak of note and has thus far been reported in Namibia, Botswana, and the Karoo area in South Africa.

Farmers are urged to contact their local Agriculture Department as soon as they see big or small locust swarms in their area. This will enable early control of the swarms and stop further catastrophic outbreaks.

Another story sheds light on the state of South Africa’s agri parks. Erasmus says that the expenditure on these parks by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform, and Rural Development was discussed during a recent parliamentary meeting.

DA MP Annette Steyn questioned the rollout of this programme and stated that answers need to be given on how the R3 billion that was budgeted for agri parks for the period from 2015 to 2021, has been used. Erasmus adds that according to Steyn, South Africa has about 44 agri parks with many of them not in a good state.

Steyn also stated that the party will make use of the Promotion of Access to Information Act of 2000 to obtain answers from the department.

Lastly, Farmer’s Weekly also looks at the outbreak of avian influenza on poultry farms in South Africa and the measures that ostrich farmers are putting in place to prevent an outbreak on their farms. Erasmus adds that Francois de Wet, managing director of Cape Karoo International, says that avian influenza poses a big threat to the ostrich industry and since the first large outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza, the ostrich industry had adhered to strict virus protocols to prevent transmission.

This is since 2011 when the ostrich industry suffered large losses due to an outbreak of the virus. With that being said, an estimated 40 000 ostriches had to be culled due to the virus in 2017.

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