According to NWK’s Group Manager of Cooperative Marketing and Communication, Johan Bezuidenhout, these roads were in terrible condition. He said that it made good business sense to carry out the repairs so that grain producers were able to deliver their harvest to silos.

Bezuidenhout further stated that some of the roads had deteriorated to such an extent that it led to major damages and breakages to delivery vehicles.

The deterioration of the roads was caused by heavy rain and flooding during the past few months.

Food price inflation

Another story takes a look at food price inflation. Farmer’s Weekly’s Janine Ryan says food price inflation is likely to further increase over the next few months.

Food price inflation increased by 1% month-on-month and 30.6% in February year-on-year (y/y) in 2023, which is according to the latest data from Statistics South Africa.

Ryan added that y/y the inflation rate increased the most for bread and cereals at 20.5% followed by oils and fats at 16.7%, processed food at 16.1%, and vegetables at 15.7%.

According to Ryan, the inflation rate also climbed above 10% y/y for meat, fresh milk, eggs and cheese, unprocessed food, and sugar.

In its latest food inflation brief, the Bureau for Food and Agriculture Policy reported that the healthy food basket, which measured the cost of basic healthy eating for lower-income households in South Africa, had increased by 2.6% or R89 m/m in February to R3 504.

Pig farming

Farmer’s Weekly also takes a look at technology in pig production. A pig farmer in Gauteng talks about the data and top-of-the-range genetics and why these are important for sustainable and profitable pig production.

OFM News