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The stories in the news section of the 6 August edition of Farmer’s Weekly, which will be available from Friday 30 July, include looking at the Western Cape. Erasmus explains that deputy president, David Mabuza, recently provided written answers to parliamentary questions from the DA on the slow progress made with construction work to enlarge the dam.

Erasmus adds that the project is to increase the dam’s wall height by around 13 meters. This construction was initially scheduled to be completed in 2019, but answers provided by Mabuza states that this project will only be completed in 2025.

Mabuza further stated that the project’s slow progress, which was currently only about 12% completed, was due to supply chain management challenges in the Department of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation. Also, the delay of this project is holding back economic development in the region, with Janse Rabie of Agri SA saying that increased capacity of the dam would unlock an additional 5 500 hectares of irrigation land. This will add about 3 500 permanent jobs.

Furthermore, another story takes a look at the global avocado production which is expected to reach 12 million tons by 2030. Erasmus says according to the latest global agricultural outlook, this will be about triple the volume produced back in 2010.

The report, which is by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, states that while the avocado’s had the lowest production levels of all major tropical fruit produced, it was the fastest-growing tropical fruit in terms of production in recent years.

Lastly, there is a big concern about the global shortage of the herbicide glyphosate. Grain SA says that prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, glyphosate delivery time was between eight and 12 weeks, and now it can take chemical companies up until five months to deliver the product.

Erasmus adds that Corné Louw, chief economist at Agri SA, says that they are concerned about the impact that this will have on the coming production season for grain in South Africa.

The glyphosate shortage was mainly a result of factories in China coming to a halt for some time during the Covid-19 lockdown last year, concludes Erasmus.

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