Farmer’s Weekly – 30 August 2019

Weekly neWsWrap

20 farmer’sweekly 30 August 2019

Movingforwardwiththeuptake

of regenerative or conservation

agriculture will require investment

in farmers to manage the change.

This was according to

Prof James Blignaut, an environmental

and resource economist at

Stellenbosch University,

speaking at the 6th Agbiz Grain

Symposium in Pretoria recently.

Blignaut said a change from

conventional farming to conservation

agriculture was necessitated by various

factors, including climate change

and cost pressures on conventional

farming, especially grains.

Some farmers had acknowledged

that they needed to make these

changes, as they realised that

conventionalagriculturewas

coming under increasing pressure

due to escalating costs, exposure

to climate variations and a

decline in soil fertility.

Introducing conservation agriculture

would reduce these challenges

and increase profitability.

However, the difficulty was

switching to this farming system,

as research had indicated that a

farmer would typically require

a three- to five-year window

to make the transition.

“During the transition from

conventional to organic farming,

growers may face pest control

difficulties and lower yields when

conventional practices are abandoned.

“Onewaytheagriculturesectorcan

assist farmers in transitioning is

through investment, because the entire

value chain is at risk when farmers

are unable to farm,” Blignaut said.

Restoration of farmland was

also important to preserve the

natural capital value of the land.

In this regard, crop production

played a major role in ecosystem

factors such as soil fertility, soil

retention, pollination and pest control,

as the natural value of the land was

lost when it became degraded.

“Early this year, we published

a paper that made it clear that

degradation is an issue of

national importance,” Blignaut

said. – Siyanda Sishuba

Conservation

Highlighting the need to fast-track conservation agriculture

Phytosanitarymeasuresto
mitigatetheriskoffruitfly
infestationsincitrusfruit
exportstotheEUwillcome
intoeffecton1 September.
Theregulationswillrequire
thatcitrusfruitexportedtothe
EUneedeithertobesourced
froma fruitfly-freearea,
orsubjectedtoaneffective
treatmenttoensurethefruitis
freeofnon-Europeanfruitflies.
Twocitrusfruitflieshave
beenflaggedforSouthAfrica:
thefirstforlemonsandlimes
(FF-SAL),andthesecondfor
othercitrustypes(FF-SAO).
Sincethebeginningof
August,fruitflychecks
havebeenincludedinall
packhousedeliveryinspections.
Compliancewiththecitrus
fruitflymanagementsystem
willbecomecompulsory
fromSeptember,beforea
phytosanitarycertificatefor
exportingtotheEUcanbeissued.
AccordingtoDrAruna
Manrakhan,programme
coordinatorforfruitflyat
CitrusResearchInternational,

theCitrusFF-SALconsisted

oftwoindependentmeasures,

namelythenon-hoststatusof

commercialexport-gradelemons

andlimesfortherelevantfruit

flyspecies,andthePerishable

ProduceExportCouncilBoard’s

(PPECB’s)phytosanitary

inspectionsforfruitpacked

forexporting.PhytClean(the

citrusindustry’sITplatform)

registrationrequirements

werealsocompulsory.

TheCitrusFF-SAOconsistedof

threeindependentmeasures:

fruitflygoodagricultural

practicewithpackhousedelivery

inspections;packhousegrading;

andphytosanitaryinspection

offruitpackedforexportas

conductedbyPPECBandpost-

Citrus exports

New fruit fly regulations for citrus exports to EU

harvest shipping conditions,

she said. Records needed to be

kept and the packhouse delivery

inspections had to include a

fruit fly infestation assessment;

the results then needed to be

uploaded onto PhytClean.

If more than one fruit fly-

infested fruit was detected

during the packhouse

delivery inspection, the fruit

fly status of the orchard on

PhytClean would be labelled

‘not permitted’. A repeat

packhouse delivery inspection

would then be undertaken

seven or more days later.

Packhouse grading and the

standard 2% post-packing

inspection by PPECB also needed

to take place. Detection of any

live fruit fly larvae by PPECB

would result in rejection of the

pallet for export to the EU and

the fruit could not be repacked

for this market. “The results of a

PPECB rejection for fruit fly will

be monitored and excessive levels

will result in an investigation

to determine appropriate

regulatory action.” – Lindi Botha

Detection of

any live fruit

fly larvae

results in

rejection of

the pallet