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The 30 July issue of the magazine contains a follow-up article regarding the recruitment of an additional 10 000 extension officers by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development over the next three years. Erasmus says that this was made known earlier this year during the department’s budget speech. She adds that there has unfortunately not been much progress with the implementation of this plan.

Adding to that, Reggie Ngcobo, spokesperson for the department, stated that no specific budget had been allocated for this initiative and that it was in the hands of the provincial agriculture departments to implement this plan and to allocate a budget to this. He said that the department approached Treasury which granted approval for the prioritisation of extension services. 

Furthermore, Annette Steyn, DA MP and agricultural spokesperson, commented on this and stated that the 10 000 number was “just a thumb suck,” and added that it made no sense to appoint more people when there was not even an operational budget for the existing staff to do their work.

Another news story looks at the European Union’s (EU) Green Deal that could mean a drastic reduction in food imports to that region. Erasmus explains that this could have severe consequences for South Africa’s fresh produce industry which does rely quite heavily on exporting produce to the EU region.

“This EU Green Deal is a set of policy initiatives which aims to make that region climate neutral by 2050. And South African producers of crops that are already grown in the EU will probably be hardest hit by the scaling back of imports.”

This, as the deal seeks to focus on EU grown produce in order to reduce transport emissions.

Lastly, another story in the news section of Farmer’s Weekly takes a look at the impact that the current Covid-19 lockdown regulations have on the hospitality sector, as well as the producers that supply them. Erasmus says that at the moment, because of these regulations, a number of restricted restaurant and events not taking place, has lead to the demand for hospitality driven products such as bacon, microgreens and lettuce being diminished.

Wendy Alberts, CEO of the Restaurant Association of South Africa (RASA), says that due to the reduced outputs, restaurants could not do bulk ordering of produce. This meant that they were relying on local growers instead.

Additionally, Johan Kotzé, CEO of the South African Pork Producers’ Organisation (SAPPO), adds that as soon as restaurants were closed to the public, the demand for bacon fell.

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