Farmer's Weekly (South Africa)
Rhino poaching in private reserves on the rise
As poaching syndicates move their focus from animals in the Kruger National Park towards easier prey, rhino poaching on private reserves in Limpopo and Mpumalanga has increased.
Albi Modise, spokesperson for the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, said around 451 rhino had been poached in South Africa last year.
“Of these, 327 were in government reserves and 124 on private property. While there’s a 24% decrease in rhino poaching from the pre-COVID-19 period in 2019, there has been an increase in poaching on private properties.”
In the Kruger National Park, an estimated 209 rhino were poached for their horns in 2021, compared with 245 in 2020.
Nonetheless, there was a compound effect for every female rhino that was poached, Modise said.
“When a female rhino with a subadult calf is killed, this calf is instantly put at risk of predation. Usually, when a female is walking with a sub-adult calf, she is pregnant with another calf.
“It also robs the population of all future offspring, which can be anything from eight to 10 rhinos during the lifespan of a female rhino.
“A close working relationship between the police’s endangered species unit and the [South African National Parks] (SANParks) environmental crimes inspectorate has resulted in increased arrests and convictions.”
Modise said that in 2021 there had been 189 arrests in connection with poaching activities: 77 within the Kruger National Park and 109 outside the park, compared with 156 people arrested countrywide in 2020.
“In the 38 verdicts handed down by the courts, 37 cases had resulted in the conviction of 61 accused rhino poachers/traffickers.”
Anti-poaching efforts had also been given a boost through the
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s awareness platform in the country’s integrated wildlife zones.
“This platform enables all role players to collaborate. [For example, it] links camera traps and ranger patrols while integrating a range of other systems,” Modise said.
SANParks, provincial nature reserves and private rhino owners were dehorning rhino to deter poachers, while SANParks was investigating the feasibility of additional actions such as anti-poaching initiatives focused on apprehending poachers and establishing additional founder populations outside the Kruger National Park, Modise said.
According to an online article in the African Journal of Wildlife Research in September 2021, travel restrictions and COVID-19-related lockdowns might have constrained international illegal supply chains of high-value wildlife products such as rhino horn. – Susan Marais
Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has indicated that the legislation governing scrap-metal dealers could be tightened to prevent them from buying material stolen from the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA).
It is estimated that the South African economy is losing billions of rands as a result of the large-scale theft of cables, in particular. Mbalula has called the theft and vandalism of PRASA infrastructure sabotage of the economy.
While TAU SA welcomed this prioritisation, it called for stricter policing of all stolen metals.
Bertus van der Westhuizen, TAU SA regional chairperson in the Free State, said there needed to be particular focus on scrap-metal dealers trading in copper and aluminium.
“The radiators and wiring harnesses of tractors and harvesters are stripped at a tremendous rate for copper. The insulation material of the wiring harnesses is burnt away to recover the copper. I’ve suffered damage worth thousands of rands due to this.”
Chris van Zyl, deputy general manager of TAU SA, said there was a large market for borehole pumps and scrap metal generally stolen from farms. “The existing market is big and active enough to ensure an available and accessible trade in stolen metals and electronics.”
He said that as long as this market existed, theft of metals and electronics would continue and increase, as unemployment seemed to be affecting more and more individuals and households.
Tracing stripped metal was extremely difficult, which meant that policing the industry was problematic.
“While old motors might still be serviceable and usable, the collective value of the different components and metal may ensure even higher income, thus resulting in stripping, which increases the difficulty of tracing and reassembling different parts,” Van Zyl said.
Quintin Starkey, chairperson of the Metal Recyclers’ Association of South Africa, noted that while the organisation represented and regulated some 78 members, the South African Police Service (SAPS) estimated that there were around 3 000 traders in the formal sector.
Added to this was an estimated 350 000 informal traders operating out of shopping trollies.
“While we can inspect and regulate our members, we have no jurisdiction over non-members. Furthermore, the SAPS can’t trace and police most of these traders; it’s a mammoth task.”
Both Starkey and Van Zyl said that with more willingness from government and the SAPS, however, inroads could be made.
Van Zyl said it was extremely doubtful whether the SAPS was giving the sale of second-hand goods the attention it deserved.
“The SAPS is tasked with ensuring that all business entities dealing in second-hand goods maintain a proper register reflecting sources of such goods.” – Lindi Botha
Global food prices have remained elevated so far this year due to higher demand, caused in part by panic buying as a result of the uncertainty brought about by geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe.
According to Johnny van der Merwe, managing director of AMT, a South Africa-based agricultural analysis company, the possibility of Western countries implementing sanctions on Russia was encouraging buyers to keep higher food inventories in case of shortages. This was pushing prices up in the short term.
“But my expectation is that as the world has now started relaxing regulations around the COVID-19 [pandemic], the pressure will ease and we’ll see more certainty in the market, along with lower prices.”
Van der Merwe noted that rising interest rates could also result in demand for food softening, and lower prices being paid to producers. “Considering the increasing input prices, this will place a lot of pressure on farmers. Since the oil price has also spiked [due to the current potential conflict situation], fuel prices will stay high, depending on how the [situation] plays out.”
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reported that its Food Price Index averaged 135,7 points in January, 1,1% higher than in December 2021. The index tracks monthly changes in the international prices of commonly traded food commodities.
The FAO Vegetable Oils Price Index led the rebound in January, increasing 4,2% month-on-month. Prices for all major oil categories rose, also supported by rising Brent crude oil prices.
Palm oil prices were largely underpinned by concerns about a possible reduction in the availability of inventory from Indonesia, the world’s leading exporter. Soya bean oil prices were supported by robust import purchases, particularly from India.
The FAO Dairy Price Index grew 2,4%, its fifth consecutive monthly increase. The FAO Meat Price Index increased slightly in January, with international bovine meat prices reaching new heights as global import demand exceeded export supplies, while ovine and poultry meat prices softened as exportable supplies outstripped import demand. Pork prices rose slightly, partly due to rising input costs dampening global supply.
Only the FAO Sugar Price Index posted a decrease in January, down 3,1% due to favourable production prospects in major exporting countries.
Referring to the latest vegetable oil price increase, Boubaker Ben-Belhassen, director of the FAO Markets and Trade Division, said that reduced available export volumes, labour shortages, and unfavourable weather had pushed most vegetable oil prices up to an all-time high. He expressed concern that the effects of these constraints would not ease soon. – Lindi Botha
The US has halted shipments of avocados from the western state of Michoacán in Mexico, the latter’s topproducing region, on the grounds of security risks.
According to Reuters, the region has long been plagued by gang violence, including drug cartel turf wars and the extortion of avocado growers.
Mexico’s agriculture department said in a statement that all exports of Mexican avocados to the US had been suspended “until further notice” after a US plant-safety inspector in Mexico received a threatening message.
After a similar incident in 2019, the US Department of Agriculture warned about the “possible consequences” of attacking or threatening US inspectors.
Announcing the suspension, the US embassy in Mexico said it was also “dismayed” by the situation journalists faced in that country, after the murder of another journalist, Heber López, in February, the fifth so far this year.
The US embassy said the US avocado inspection programme in Michoacán had been suspended pending a review of the security situation. Although exports had not been “blocked”, US officials needed to inspect all avocados being sent to the US, it noted.
Analysts also ascribed the unexpected dip in Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s approval rating in mid-February to the avocado ban.
More than 80% of Mexico’s avocado exports, or about 1,2 million tons, go to the US, with Michoacán the only state allowed to export fresh avocados to that country. – Staff reporter
To prevent rain damage to the fruit this season, Dutoit Agri recently used helicopters to dry off cherry trees.
Piet Bosman, Dutoit Agri’s technical adviser for stone fruit, said the company was currently the largest cherry producer in the country in terms of area, with production spread across the Worcester and Robertson areas, as well as the Koue and Warm Bokkeveld regions of the Western Cape.
These areas received above-normal rainfall during the picking season, running from October to December, which threatened the quality of the fruit. “Rain usually results in the accumulation of water in the holes around the stems of the cherries, causing bursting around the stem or at the sides of the fruit,” Bosman said.
To prevent such damage and reduce subsequent losses, Dutoit Agri rented helicopters to dry the trees off, with about two helicopters needed for every 60ha of orchards under threat.
While this might sound drastic, Bosman said it was standard practice in some other cherry-producing countries, and the cost was minimal compared with the value of the protected fruit.
He added that the company had an excellent season despite the unfavourable conditions during picking, with yields being almost three times higher than those of the previous season.
“Our yields were much higher, thanks to new orchards with improved varieties coming into production, favourable climatic conditions during flowering and fruit set, and the use of new production techniques and systems, which are resulting in higher yields and better fruit quality.”
Bosman identified logistics as the greatest challenge for the cherry industry, as was the case for the rest of the fruit sector.
“Cherries are picked when they’re ripe. They have a short shelf life, so need to be packed and cooled as soon as possible after picking. From there, the cold chain must be maintained and the fruit has to be shipped to the market as soon as possible.
“Port delays, the container shortage and irregular flights are making it difficult to achieve this,” he said. – Glenneis Kriel