On 17 August, the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development convened public hearings on the amendment of the Sectional Title Act. In simple terms, the amendment of the Bill seeks to give more additional protection to tenants and other people who hold a lease of a property.
Tabled for public comments by Minister Thoko Didiza last year, the Bill seeks to amend Clause 2, section 4 (3) which deals with the “approval of development schemes and provides for for the developer to have a meeting with every lessee of a building in instances where part of such building is to be wholly or partially let for residential purposes.”
For the first time, the Crop Estimates Committee has included estimates of the non-commercial agricultural sector. According to the CEC, it projects that the preliminary area planted to maize in the non-commercial, agricultural sector was estimated at 362 900 ha. This represented an increase of 22,00%, compared to the 297 460 ha of the previous season.
“The expected maize crop for this sector is 636 440 tons, which is 17,09% more than the 543 545 tons of last season. It is important to note that about 53% of the maize produced in the non-commercial sector, is planted in the Eastern Cape, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 23%,” said the CEC.
Grain SA further cautioned on an upward trajectory of international agrochemical and fertilizer prices set to affect South Africa. “As an importer of these products, SA continues to be at a disadvantage with price increases, with the only reprieve being a stronger Rand that moved from R16.74 in July’20 to R14.54 in July’21” said Itumeleng Maluleke.
On the beef front, the US beef exports saw strong gains in the first half of 2021 thanks to demand from South Korea, Japan, China. Domestically meat prices indicated low trends across all meat categories except for mutton. “The domestic market saw some firmness in the class A beef carcass category ahead of the Women’s Day long weekend. Class C was, however the exception and remained under downward pressure” added senior economist at FNB Paul Makube.
Last week in the fresh produce market, vegetables (carrots, onions, potatoes and cabbage) saw the biggest increase in volumes weekly. These increases in volumes according ABSA’s Abrie Rautenbach was due to consumer demand being strong because of the long weekend of 6-9 August.
