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Agriculture

Agri News Podcast: Drones take off in agri-industry

───   12:30 Fri, 24 May 2019

Agri News Podcast: Drones take off in agri-industry | News Article

Drone technology has become an integral part of cutting back on labour costs for farmers.


This is according to Agri Eastern Cape president, Douglas Stern, who says the use of this high-tech device has become increasingly popular amongst local farmers in the Eastern Cape. He says it is used to improve security by checking if boundary fences are secure, to boost productivity, to check on livestock and to do quick spot-checks on farms. According to him drones also assist farmers with reaching remote areas which employees usually take longer to track on foot.

Two men arrested in connection with the alleged theft of cattle worth R300,000 are expected to appear in the Biesiesvlei Periodical Court on Friday. North West police spokesperson, Aafje Botma, says Adriaan Human, a livestock speculator, and George Ketshabang, are expected to apply for bail. She says they appeared in the Lichtenburg Magistrate's Court last Monday on charges of theft and possession of suspected stolen stock, but were remanded in custody. This comes after they were apprehended last Thursday following alleged theft of 25 cattle from a farm approximately 20km from Biesiesvlei. Botma says one suspect is still at large after Human and Ketshabang were arrested. The suspected stolen cattle were recovered and a truck was seized, and the cattle were handed back to the lawful owner.

The mohair market performed well on the second last sale of the 2019 summer season. The average market indicator gained 0.7% to close on R290.47 per kg. According to BKB's latest mohair report, the offering comprised of some excellent individual clips, with buyers competing vigorously for better quality of small goat mohair. This resulted in the average market indicator there off  gaining 5.9%. BKB's report also indicates the average market indicator of young goat mohair increased with 1.9% to close at R373.85 per kg. The average market indicator of fine adult mohair remained unchanged at R283.36 per kg while the average market indicator of strong adult mohair closed 2.6% dearer on R252.17 per kg.



OFM Newsa/Christal-Lize Muller

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