South African News
Hemp sector in South Africa stalls despite 1 000+ permits and strong market potential
Experts say the promise of South Africa’s legal hemp industry has yet to translate into investment, jobs or rural development. Despite more than 1 000 cultivation permits issued since legalisation in 2021, only about 30% of holders are producing. Speakers at a Mpumalanga Green Cluster Agency webinar cited infrastructure gaps, high input costs, slow cultivar registration, scarce seed, and banks refusing to lend to what they deem an unproven crop. Specialists argue that EU-style subsidies and clearer market contracts could stabilise the sector. Universities and the ARC are meanwhile trialling cultivars and water-use systems to unlock viability.
Read full story: Farmer’s Weekly
Date published: October 20, 2025
AGDA marks five years of coalition-building for inclusive agricultural growth
The Agricultural Development Agency (AGDA) has celebrated five years of convening government, financiers, agribusinesses, commodity bodies, commercial and emerging farmers to drive inclusive growth in South Africa’s agricultural sector. Since 2020 it has built a trusted platform representing 45 000 farmers, 50 agribusinesses, 26 financiers and seven commodity groups over roughly one million hectares. Speakers at the Centurion event highlighted AGDA’s “neutral convening power”, its Blouberg Aggregator Model supporting Limpopo vegetable farmers, and the launch of AGDA Holdings to extend services across the value chain. New partnerships will expand HR compliance, land development and accredited training, with youth development also prioritised.
Read full story: African Farming
Date published: October 20, 2025
African News
Ghana’s Farmers’ Day must pivot from ceremony to capital-readiness to unlock scale
Ghana has launched the 41st National Farmers’ Day under the theme “Eat Ghana, Grow Ghana, Secure the Future”, but analysts argue the sector’s main constraint is not farmers or technology — it is the absence of financeable structure. Capital, they note, follows enforceable contracts, risk-mitigation and predictable returns, not patriotic events. Persistent fragmentation, weak traceability, seed fraud, climate volatility and poor contract enforcement elevate perceived risk. Government plans to deploy 5 000 graduates will not unlock lending unless tied to structured value chains with offtake, insurance, warehousing and data. To matter economically, Farmers’ Day must signal a shift from celebration to bankability.
Read full story: The High Street Journal
Date published: October 20, 2025
Global News
Guyana’s agro-export push accelerates as new processing hubs lift producers to global shelves
Guyana’s agricultural modernisation drive is gathering pace, with President Irfaan Ali spotlighting progress at a pop-up market in Georgetown and a network of state-backed agro-processing hubs. A G$23.6 million facility in Watooka now services more than 600 users and joins plants in Regions One, Five, Six and Nine to add value, raise standards and expand export capacity. Facilities in places such as Parika, Sophia and Bina Hill are helping farmers improve productivity and overcome labour, technology and market barriers. Through GO-Invest certification and efforts to remove CARICOM trade hurdles, the PPP/C government aims to position Guyana as the Caribbean’s food basket.
Read full story: Kaieteur news Not stated (News report)
Date published: October 21, 2025
China uses IoT-enabled farming and low-carbon tech to hard-wire sustainability into food production
As China shifts from high-volume to high-quality growth, its climate strategy now reaches deep into agriculture. Alongside record renewable build-out and falling clean-power costs, the state is rolling out IoT and cloud-based systems that track and cut emissions on farms. In Shandong, sensors log the carbon footprint of irrigation and fertiliser use, allowing growers to switch to precision irrigation and other lower-emission practices. These digital controls sit within a wider green technology push — from CCUS and green hydrogen to biodegradable bio-plastics — designed to hit China’s 2030 peak-emission and 2060 net-zero targets while keeping food systems investable and climate-resilient.
Read full story: CGTN
Date published: October 20, 2025
Indian greenhouse yields are lost to bad design, not technology, warns sector insider
India’s rapid adoption of greenhouses is being undermined by poor structural design, according to Md. Rafiulla of HR Traders. He argues that around 70 percent of failures originate in basic errors - height, airflow, strength and orientation - before climate automation is even considered. As growers diversify into high-value flowers and fruits, the focus has shifted from crop protection to full environment engineering, blending fabrication, fertigation and subsidy compliance. A Karnataka floriculture build delivered 25% water savings and uniformity gains once ventilation and fertigation were designed correctly. Rafiulla expects durable, well-engineered structures to determine long-run returns as the sector scales.
Read full story: HortiDaily
Date published: October 20, 2025
Climate-driven heat and erratic monsoon cut South Asia’s guava yields and push farmers out of the crop
Guava production in South Asia - which supplies nearly half of global output - is declining as rising temperatures and irregular rainfall disrupt flowering and fruit set in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Farmers in Barisal, Bangladesh report one-third blossom loss and yields falling from 11 to 9 t/ha in bad years, with acreage retreating as growers switch to hog plum and banana. Studies from Uttar Pradesh and Larkana link delayed monsoon, heat spikes and drought to lower yields, poor fruit quality and livelihood stress. Scientists urge climate-resilient varieties, protected cultivation and calendar shifts to keep guava commercially viable.
Read full story: Mongabay
Date published: October 20, 2025
