The Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza, says in a statement that this decision follows the conclusion of the second round of serological surveillance. It was established that the disease, within the disease management area, is still confined to two clusters of diptanks in Mtubatuba and Nongoma. The department's spokesperson, Reggie Ngcobo, adds that this shows the restriction on the movement of animals out of, within, through and into the disease management areas was sufficient to prevent the disease from spreading. He says that in total, foot-and-mouth disease was detected and confirmed in 29 locations, comprising of two clusters of diptanks in communal grazing land, as well as two commercial farms. Movement of cloven-hoofed animals and their products into, out of, through or within the disease management areas is still only allowed on authority of a permit issued by the Veterinary Services of the area.

About 60 000 hectares of veld were destroyed in the Free State due to wildfires over the weekend. This is according to the communications officer of Free State Agriculture, Elana Bester. Dr Jack Armour, Commercial Manager of the organisation, adds that the fires over the weekend between Ventersburg and Welkom will easily increase numbers to over 400,000 hectares. The largest fire was reported in the Ventersburg area. Armour says that there is a big need for animal feed and has appealed to those that are able to make donations to visit the organisation's website for more information on how to help affected farmers.

AND

The latest economic growth numbers that were released by Statistics South Africa came out stronger than expected in the second quarter of 2021. According to Paul Makube, Senior Agricultural Economist at FNB Agri-Business, this growth was underpinned by robust gains in the transport sector, personal services, as well as agriculture with quarterly increases of 6.9%, 2.5%, and 6.2%, respectively. He says that resilience in the agriculture sector continued as expected despite the ongoing Covid-19 related challenges with all sectors, field crops, horticulture crops, and animal products making immense contributions. Leading signs of yet another impressive rebound, ahead of the release of second quarter 2021 GDP numbers, included the robust harvest of summer grain and oilseed crops, good commodity prices, the record high agribusiness confidence, as well as strong exports.





OFM News