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This week, Farmer’s Weekly takes a look at how rhino poaching at private reserves has increased over the past year. Poaching syndicates are now moving their focus from the Kruger National Park towards so-called easier prey in private reserves in Mpumalanga and Limpopo. Ryan says that despite the poaching increase on private reserves, the vast majority of poaching still took place on state land in 2021.

About 451 rhinos were poached last year. Three hundred twenty-seven of these poached rhinos were poached in government reserves, while 124 were poached on private reserves.

Another story takes a look at how beef producers in Botswana are concerned that smallholder beef production could decline due to the low prices that are being paid by feedlots and meat processing companies to farmers. Ryan adds that around 80% of Botswana’s 1 million cattle are currently being farmed by smallholder farmers. Data that are supplied by these farmers show that live cattle that were bought from them for R12/kg were sold at retailers for around R61/kg.

Furthermore, the production of grain around the world is also explored in this issue. Ryan says that world grain production is projected to increase by more than 2 million tons in 2022, to reach 2,8 billion tons. This is due to high wheat output in Argentina, Australia, Russia, and Ukraine.

However, Ryan states that the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine could have an impact on final yields as both these countries are major global producers of wheat.

Meanwhile, maize production forecasts have also been raised in the EU, Ukraine, and the United States, with record maize plantings expected in Argentina and Brazil. This is even though dry conditions are expected over Argentina, which could also impact prospects for final maize yields.

This edition of the magazine also takes a look at an increase in flies after continuous heavy rains which could lead to an increase in animal diseases transmitted by these flies.

This is particularly concerning as there has been a shortage of vaccines from Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP). This has led to farmers being unable to vaccinate their animals against certain deadly animal diseases.

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