Agricultural science service provider Farmsecure Agri Science (FAS) has strengthened its position in South Africa’s deciduous and table grape industries.

Through the merging of the well-respected soil science consulting firm, Agricultural Consultors International (ACI), into the services of FAS, as well as the acquisition of the research and development company ExperiCo, Farmsecure Agri Science now offers an extensive, comprehensive and reliable suite of agricultural scientific services.

Farmsecure Agri Science is part of the Farmsecure Group and an integral role player in realising the Group’s vision of making a meaningful contribution to securing the world’s food supply by “Creating Sustainability and Profitability in Agriculture”.

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Cape Town — When a food crisis hits the continent, African countries tend to look to the international donor community to mobilise aid. But a fast-growing, drought- resistant tree with extremely nutritious leaves could help poor, arid nations to fight food insecurity and malnutrition on their own.

A 15-hectare plantation of the “miracle tree” with the botanical name Moringa oleifera has already started to make a positive change in the rural village of Tooseng, which is located in one of South Africa’s poorest provinces, Limpopo.

Moringa leaves are dubbed a “super food” because scientists found that they contain the calcium equivalent of four glasses of milk, the vitamin C content of seven oranges, the potassium of three bananas, three times the amount of iron found in spinach, four times the amount of vitamin A found in a carrot and twice the amount of protein in milk. It is like a supermarket on a tree.

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Machakos — For a couple that has weathered the dual tests of early retirement and repeated crop failures, it might have seemed an impossible dream to former primary-school teacher Philip Ngolania and his farmer wife that their three quarters of an acre farm could one day yield enough staple food to last an entire season.

But a visit to the local office of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) early this year ushered in a fresh beginning for the 62-year-old father of four grown sons, whose land barely produced enough food for the family’s daily meals in this drought-parched area east of the capital, Nairobi. Since that visit, he says, the family’s prospects have improved dramatically.

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Malawi is one of the world’s top producers of macademia nuts, but the crop does not make it into the top five of the country’s exports in terms of revenue generated. Topping the bill currently are tobacco, sugar, tea and cotton.

The country faces a currency shortage at present and is putting into place plans to take advantage of its position as a producer of macademias, ranking alongside Australia and South Africa.

Industry and Trade Minister, John Bande said that the government wants to capitalise on macademia production to turn the country’s economic fortunes. “This is in view of the contribution the crop can make to import-substitution as well as generation of foreign exchange.

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THE 2012 tobacco selling season opens on February 15 amid expectations from stakeholders of high output and quality crop.

The tobacco would be auctioned at four floors Tobacco Sales Floor, Boka Tobacco Floors, Millennium Tobacco and Premier Tobacco.

Players in the industry told Standardbusiness they hope for a “bit more in terms of national yield and better quality tobacco”.

Zimbabwe Progressive Tobacco Farmers Union president, Nicholas Kapungu, told Standardbusiness that the organisation is optimistic ahead of the selling season, as all members will sell the crop to one buyer, Star International Tobacco, whom they have agreed with on prices.

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