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This week’s edition of Farmer’s Weekly looks at the need for a wool processing industry in South Africa. Deon Saayman, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cape Wools SA, says an investment of about R80 million is needed to get this wool processing industry off the ground.

ALSO READ: #FMD: Wool industry in conversation with China following ban

He says the industry has evaluated the financial viability of processing some of its own wool again, similar to various other countries, including Australia, and it found a compelling case to reintroduce early-stage processing, but not on the commodity base scale as is done in China.

Ryan further adds that it was envisioned that a processing plant would start small and process 1.3 million kilograms of greasy wool a year, with the potential to expand capacity over time. The plant has the potential to produce thousands of downstream jobs.

Another news story takes a look at Eskom’s load reduction programme, which is leaving hundreds of farmers in Limpopo without electricity for hours at a time.

Farmer’s Weekly spoke to Diane Reddy, a senior associate at Schindlers Attorneys in Johannesburg, who stated that this is illegal.

While the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) last year found Eskom’s rolling blackouts to be an administrative action, it stated that load reduction was an unlawful practice employed by Eskom mainly as a credit control mechanism, said Reddy.

She added that the failure of municipalities to make payments to Eskom results in suffering for paying customers. Redding further said that it was possible to hold Eskom legally liable for damage caused as a result of load reduction.

Meanwhile, Ryan shares that another news story takes a look at the outlook for wheat that are planted in South Africa’s winter rainfall region, and because of the late start of the rainy season, there is some uncertainty about the wheat season ahead.

Toit Wessels, Grain SA’s (GSA) assistant manager for marketing at Nampo, said the crop in the Overberg region is looking good, but that parts of the Southern Cape region were still in need of rain at the time of writing.

LEES OOK: Suid-Afrikaanse sitrusbedryf deur nuwe EU-regulasies bedreig

Furthermore, this week’s region of Farmer’s Weekly looks at the South African citrus industry, which has been dealt a double blow in the form of the European Union’s (EU) strict new cold storage protocol and Eskom’s rolling blackouts.

According to the EU’s new protocol, which came into effect on 14 July, South African citrus producers now have to store their fruit at temperatures of between zero and minus one degrees for at least 25 days before the produce could be allowed into the EU.

The EU’s Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed reportedly chose to implement this protocol to prevent incursions of False Codling Moth (FCM).

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