The organisation says this is with reference to the brutal murders on the farm Lismore outside Kestell, in which seven people were killed. OFM News' Elsabé Richard-May reports Francois Wilken, president of Free State Agriculture, says the organisation welcomes and supports the initiative by Nxangisa, to involve his department in safety and crime prevention in rural areas.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Agriculture, Thoko Didiza, together with Nxangisa, will attend the mass funeral of the seven murder victims on the 23rd of July at the Kestell Multipurpose Centre.

A combination of runaway inflation, tightening policy cycles by major global central banks, and uncertainty over the Russia-Ukraine war with its far reaching ramifications for commodity prices and economic growth, have forced the SARB’s hand to hike interest rates. Paul Makube, Senior Agricultural Economist at FNB Agri-Business, says effective from the 22nd of July, the repurchase rate increases by 75 basis points to 5.5% per year. He explains that the higher interest rate means farmers face higher debt servicing costs, which may force marginal farmers to reduce their operations, and those that have already been in a dire financial situation to quit.

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Cape Wools SA says there is a need for a wool processing industry in South Africa. Deon Saayman, CEO of Cape Wools SA, adds that an investment of about R80 million is needed to get this wool processing industry off the ground. Janine Ryan, the editor of Farmer's Weekly, shares that according to Saayman an evaluation was done on the financial viability of processing some of its own wool again, and it found a compelling case to reintroduce early-stage processing, but not on the commodity base scale as is done in China.

OFM News