Ask the Experts

Landbouweekblad reader Nick Serfontein of Edenville’s letter was received and adapted as follows. 

It is estimated that around 20% of losses in livestock production worldwide can be attributed to animal diseases. In Southern Africa, tick-borne diseases remain some of the key illnesses responsible for preventable economic losses in livestock production. Global warming is also inevitably making it possible for implicated vectors to survive in geographies where they did not traditionally occur before, or at least not in numbers high enough to create a disease concern.

Foot and mouth disease has been in the news lately, impacting the red-meat value chain and farmers very negatively. The disease has spread to an extent never seen before in South Africa. The reliance on livestock farming makes poor rural households much more vulnerable to the impact of the disease.

In uncertain times communication is a critical commodity that should be used in abundance. Agriculture is currently in a vice grip due to high input costs, challenges around infrastructure, and increasingly restricted access to credit, says Theo Vorster of Galileo Capital.

The latest outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease is causing great concern among South African cattle farmers.

There’s good news for potato farmers struggling with late blight. Corteva Agriscience has just introduced a new fungicide, ZorvecTM Encantia ® (Reg. no. L11227, Act 36 of 1947), to specifically combat late blight, a bacterium that causes damage to potatoes.

For all your aftermarket agricultural and industrial engine requirements, visit Alert Engine Parts.

Herd and flock health is a primary concern for stockmen and -women, as healthy, productive animals drive profits in livestock farming businesses, while meeting welfare concerns.

Praveen Dwarika, Managing Director at Afgri’s Lemang Agricultural Services discusses transformation in the agricultural sector. He sits down with African Farming presenter Bathabile Modutoane to chat about some of the challenges to achieving economic freedom and what the end goal of transformation is.

We continue our series with FNB Agric and take a look at what happened at their event in the small town of Letsitele. The team sat down with farmers to talk about some of the challenges they are facing.