Poor rains as a result of the continued wrath of El Niño weather pattern have put much strain on the SADC region farming sector. Drought cut the staple maize crop in South Africa, Africa’s biggest producer, by about a third of the 2015/2016 season and is likely to continue into the southern hemisphere summer as El Niño strengthens According to a statement from the Crop Estimates Committee,
farmers in South Africa will reduce 2016 season plantings of the grain to the smallest since 2011 because of poor rains in the main growing regions. The El Niño effect is a known phenomenon which causes the sea temperature to rise significantly in the Pacific Ocean off South America, and the air becomes dry, affecting the rain-formation process.
Difficulties
United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) has indicated that a combination of failed harvests in a number of SADC countries during the 2014/2015 summer together with the effects of ongoing drought conditions in the region would create an estimated 27,4 million food-insecure people over the next six months.
Said the statement: “Most at threat from immediate food insecurity are Malawi, Zimbabwe and Madagascar which all suffered severe crop failure due to extended dry spells. There are also concerns about growing food insecurity in Lesotho and the southern parts of Angola and Mozambique. While Botswana and Namibia also suffered from extensive drought earlier this year, people in these countries are not considered as much at risk.”
Furthermore the statement added that Malawi was struggling with its worst food insecurity in a decade as a result of damage-causing floods that had then been followed by the current drought conditions. Zimbabwe’s harvest from its 2014/2015 summer crops was reported to be 50% down from the 2013/14 summer production season.
For the South Africa’s maize belt the weather patterns has brought more drought to already-parched regions.
In West Africa, a lack of rainfall across Ghana’s cocoa belt has raised fears that the world’s No. 2 grower could be facing another poor crop. In Ethiopia, 4.5 million people need food aid because of El Nino and long-term climate change.
SADC Climate Service Centre Regional Coordinator Bradwell Garanganga said much of SADC is likely to receive normal to below-normal rainfall for the periods October to December 2015 as well as January to March 2016, adding that “a persistent strong El Niño is also favoured during the bulk of the rainfall season.”
Solutions
Garanganga furthermore said that the SADC region should be prepared for such natural phenomena. “For example, farmers could plant crops that do not take long to mature, and the region should invest more infrastructure development including roads, irrigation and silos.”
In South Africa, the provincial agricultural departments of Free State, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West
and KwaZulu-Natal have provided R14,7 million in drought relief assistance to small-scale and subsistence farmers in the provinces. The five provinces are reported to currently be the worst affected by the drought. The funds will be used for animal feed and water and for intensifying awareness campaigns.
The provincial agricultural departments submitted their declaration requests to the Provincial Disaster Management Centers in accordance with the Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act No. 57 of 2002).
The drought disaster stricken provinces will submit their disaster funding requests to the South African
National Treasury through the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC).
In the meantime, the department said that it has approached the Industrial Development Corporation and the Land Bank for possible assistance. Both indicated that they have plans to assist affected farmers. The plans include providing soft loans.
The Zimbabwean government has, as a result of the ongoing drought, slashed the 2015 growth forecast to 1.5% from 3.2%. Aid agencies say 1.5 million Zimbabweans, or 16% of the population, would need food aid by next March.
Meanwhile in Uganda, there is an increased disaster management focus around the country as it expects heavy rainfall during the months of January and February 2016. Heavy rains have already led to a rise in cholera cases. The disease has killed at least six people in western Uganda.
Additional reporting from: Reuters, Farmers weekly, News24

Heard the one about the bank that built a coffee shop? And then gave away the coffee for free? No, probably not, because that’s never been done before.
But now, incorporating a personal interactive experience has become one of the leading drivers in consumer behaviour. And Absa bank, a member of the Barclays group, has launched a one-of-a-kind in-bank pop up coffee shop, Prosper Café, as an extension of its Prosper campaign, which encourages consumers
to ‘prosper’ in all that they doIn a move that “pushes the boundaries of its brand-consumer engagement
and transcends the limits of traditional creative communication”, Prosper Café offers consumers an “engaging brand experience”.
The idea
Lauren Daniel, brand manager, marketing and corporate, explains the thought process chain behind the shops: “We want to engage our clients in a different way, moving away from product push marketing and personalising the experience. We have been working with our creative agency, The Jupiter Drawing Room, for the past year to conceptualise an activation experience that would support our Prosper campaign. We
wanted to create an activation that could be used across the bank, that would reinforce the Prosper promise and that would activate all the senses, not just the visual and auditory senses stimulated through traditional media. Not only does Prosper Café meet all these requirements, but as a scalable, mobile pop-up store that comes in a kit format, it’s economical too. Prosper Café is undoubtedly one of
our most exciting marketing activations in recent years at Absa.”
She says, Prosper Café integrates all Absa’s marketing activations and promotions, furthers its Prosper
messaging, fluidly crosses multipleaudiences, and can be used by all Absa business units as needed, “ensuring a consistent and engaging brand experience, every time”.
Coffee
According to Dana Cullinan, creative director at The Jupiter Drawing Room, the creative team was very specific in its choice of coffee as a medium. “Coffee has been bringing people together for centuries, and activating all five senses for just as long. Prosper Café gave us an opportunity to pair this with a space that offered multiple communication contact points. It was an idea that allowed us to connect brand and consumer in a unique, authentic and refreshingly unexpected way.”
The premium coffees and red espressos and cappuccinos served at the coffee shops are exclusively blended for the café from sustainably-sourced 100% arabica beans. “These beans are sourced from Honduras, Colombia, Burundi and Uganda, and the tea from local rooibos farms, reflecting the global, African and
South African footprint of the Barclays brand,” says Daniel
Furthermore, as an extension of the Prosper philosophy, “which hinges around stimulating and facilitating the hopes and dreams of ordinary people… Prosper has been incorporated through the coffee
beans which are sourced from companies employing transparent, fair trade policies such as the Rainforest Alliance to the product collateral messaging on coffee cups, stirrers, sugar sachets and complementary chocolates. In displaying infographic narratives of the stories of the organisations and people we have chosen to work with – including Coffee Kids and The Long Mile Coffee Project – on the most prominent piece of coffee shop real estate, the store counter.”
Both Coffee Kids and The Long Mile Coffee Project work to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable
livelihoods by transforming landuse practices, business practices and consumer behaviour.
Implementation
The pop-up café will also be used at Absa sponsored events, such as the Absa Cape Epic, KKNK and L’Atelier, offering what is essentially Prosper coffee (a premium ground coffee especially blended for the bank). The coffees will be brewed and served under the leadership of renowned South African coffee personality Alessandro Morrico. Trained in Italy, Morrico is one of only four South African, World Barista Championship-certified judges and the only South African to obtain an acclaimed SCAE Coffee Diploma from the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe. This is a diploma that is made up of over six different diplomas achieved over five years.
Says Daniel: “Absa is a brand that prides itself on being innovative and driven by the belief that everything we do should serve a purpose. This is a one-of-a-kind concept and we are extremely optimistic that the idea will be implemented throughout our consumer base.”
Barclays Africa’s registered head office is in Johannesburg, South Africa, and it has majority stakes in banks in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania (Barclays Bank Tanzania and National Bank of Commerce), Uganda and Zambia. It also has representative offices in Namibia and Nigeria. Barclays Bank PLC has operations in Egypt and Zimbabwe which are an integral part of Barclays Africa’s African business and continue to be run by Barclays Africa operationally.
Barclays Africa Tel: +27 011 350 4000; www.home.barclays.com

And in international news …
Capital One Financial Corp‘s new Boston office opened recently, with no tellers. The firm is expanding a “cafe” format in which visitors can get gourmet coffee and free Wi-Fi but can’t sit with a banker who will open an account for them or drop off a loan application.Instead, employees steer customers to its website and answer questions about the bank’s services. As it has in other locations, the company will also probably host occasional alcohol free “appy hours” that promote the smartphone apps of local businesses.
Capital One sees the cafe format, which it is using at several locations around the US, as a way to promote the bank’s brand without employing large numbers of tellers.
– The Wall Street Journal, Is This a Coffee Shop or a Bank?

We explore how a Johannesburg man went about sourcing and selecting recycled materials to sustain the wooden home he built
Gaetano Gesualdo, a 65-year-old Italian expatriate tool and die maker, has been residing in South Africa for about 20 years. He has several years of experience in creating and building practical items. We take a look at his latest creation – a wooden structure consisting of a room, a bathroom and a kitchen which was built using “scrap” material.
Gesualdo started building his “wendy house” which has two separate entrances, using pallet wood late in 2013.
“It began with my decision to find a suitable shed to store my tools in. I priced around and after establishing that it would cost me from R30, 000 to R75, 000 ($2110.05to $ 5275.12) for the wendy house I wanted I decided to build one myself.”
Gesualdo says there was no rush to complete the project, which evolved from the initial intention of being a tool shed, to currently housing a worker on the property he owns in Nigel. Nigel is a small former gold mining town in the Gauteng Province situated on the edge of the greater Johannesburg area, known as the East Rand.
The exterior
Gesulado collected pallets until he had sufficient to begin constructing the wendy house.
“I used approximately 6,000 pieces of pallet wood. I used a plane to smooth down each plank after they were individually removed from their pallets using a crowbar.”
After all the planks had been smoothed out, which took about a month, they were stacked up and stored in
Gesualdo’s yard.
“My son, a worker and myself started by removing 30cm of sand around the area which we decided to build the foundation on. We dug up an area 10 metres in length and 5metres in width. The concrete was poured in and left to dry.”
A total of 30 bags of cement, 15m2 of sand and 10m2 stone was mixed to create the basis for the wooden structure to be built on. Thereafter three layers of bricks (about 200) were laid on the concrete base.
Gesulado says more than 50 pieces of 40×100 pine wood were used as the frame of the wooden home.
“These were placed vertically across. The pallets were secured horizontally using screws to nail individual pieces of pallet against the vertical pine pieces. There was space left for the window frames. The complete wooden house has four windows in the front section and two on each of the sides.”
Gesualdo says an estimated 450 nails were used to secure all planks, to complete the wooden structure. The door frames and doors were constructed using a generous amount of the pallet wood planks.
The roof trusses were built and secured with metal gussets. “Four roof trusses were placed on both the right and left side of the wooden structure. A total of eight were placed inside. This was done to secure the home, so that it will not collapse,” Gesulado comments.
Roof space had been left open to attach a clear corrugated roof sheet on a small section of the roof. “This is the skylight for my wendy house. This idea allows more light to penetrate through, so it is not dark inside.”
The corrugated sheet was attached with a corrugated fastener- a special type of nail used on such materials.
The interior
Gesualdo used 15m2 ceramic tiles in the interior of the wendy house. “I searched for a tile supplier of redundant tiles. The tiles I chose were not tainted or damaged in any way, they were quality tiles. The supplier had one box in stock. I inquired which tiles only consisted of a box, made a reasonable offer and got two different styles of tiles.”
The bathroom consists of a shower and toilet. “Being an innovative person, I recycled an old dirt-bin and
used this as the toilet’s cistern. It was perfect as it is a 25 litre capacity bin. I drilled a hole through on the right hand side of the bin and connected a pipe.”
Gesulado also built an outside lavatory, using a cooler box as the cistern and had that connected the same as the inside toilet cistern. “I called in a plumber and an electrician to do the electrical
and plumbing work required.”
Kitchen units were built using solid wood purchased at a hardware store. Gesualdo maintains that his “hand-built” wooden home will last for several years without weathering affects. “There were five coats of wood varnish mixed with thinners painted on. It was diluted with thinners so the liquid would seep
through the wood, providing a solid layer of protection.”
It took Gesulado seven months to complete the wendy house.
Uses of Wendy Houses
• Tool sheds: It can be used to store mechanical, electrical and other tools.
• Dog kennels: These houses are a perfect choice to home your pets.
• Play houses: You can have your kids play with their dolls, relax or just have fun in a wendy house.
• Staff quarters: They are suitable for temporary or permanent staff accommodation, especially for moderately-sized businesses.
• Guard huts or offices: If you have a guard in your home, you can accommodate them in this house.
This is a lower cost accommodation solution for your guard. However, some people choose to have workstations in their gardens. This provides a place where you can concentrate on work, away from
interruptions.

Zambia-based beverage manufacture, Dairy Gold, a subsidiary of Trade Kings, recently launched a new system to hydrate maize flour for the manufacture of drinks. Commissioned for OAL Group, the new OAL Steam Infusion system is said to give the manufacturer a competitive advantage while reducing operating
costs and improving product quality.Trade Kings Limited is a prominent FMCG manufacturer in Zambia and
one of the major manufacturers in the region. Having sold its drinks business to SABMiller in 2009, Dairy
Gold wished to re-enter the market in 2015 with a new beverage offering. It decided to launch a new brand of highly nutritious maize based drink, called Ama Sipsip.
Winani Chiwowa, manufacturing director at Trade Kings, says the company was looking to re-enter the market with a maheu product as well as a variety of other ambient drinks: “Our company was seriously considering re-entering the market but needed to do this with products and processes which were superior to our competitors as well as being cost effective in this very demanding market place.”
Chiwowa says Dairy Gold has a good understanding of traditional processing technologies and was in search of new technologies to provide the competitive advantages for their new venture. “Reentering
the market, we believed there was a big opportunity to dramatically reduce operating costs and improve
product quality. Following many tests,we decided on the OAL Steam Infusion Vaction technology system from
OAL Group, a United Kingdom based company.”
Steam Infusion is a low risk cooking process that heats, mixes and cooks liquid based food products fast and efficiently.
Jake Norman, sales and marketing manager at OAL Group, says the system can manufacture 15,000 litres of maheu an hour, using only one 5,000 litre vessel to hydrate maize flour. He says: “OAL Group designed, built and commissioned Dairy Gold’s new hydration system in Zambia. Using patented Vaction™ technology, the steam infusion system can hydrate maize flour up to concentrations of 12%, at a rate of 15,000 litres per hour using only one 5,000 litre vessel. The maize slurry produced is then fermented at 60˚C for two hours before continuously passing through two steam infusion Vaction units to heat the final product to 90˚C, before filling.
“The first stage compromises a large batch vessel with recirculation routes and a powder entrainment system. This system is designed to batch liquid ingredients, entrain 500kg of powders into a five tonne batches, and heat it up to 80°C in 20 minutes. The recirculation routes consist of two Vaction units in parallel that allow for in-line heating and routing of the product to the next stage of processing. The second phase takes the product from the fermentation stage and brings it to temperature before final processing and packaging. This stage is completed using a continuous production system via two Vaction units in series. The control system can vary operating conditions of the steam infusion technology to provide a consistent product output temperature.”
Norman says the steam infusion realises significant business benefits: “Steam Infusion does not expose product to excess temperatures because of the partial vacuum generated in the Vaction unit, improving product quality by eliminating burn on contamination. There are also no moving parts, making the process inherently easy to clean and maintain.”
Flexible manufacturing
Due to consumers’ changing preferences, products that are both smooth and gritty need to be manufactured using the same equipment. By altering the steam flow rate through the Vaction unit, the level of shear can be increased and decreased, allowing manufacturers to change the characteristics of the final product.
Concludes Chiwowa: “The installed system is simpler with fewer stages compared to traditional methods. Previously a maize slurry was premixed by hand before heating in a vessel with a steam jacket or a steam coil. The new steam infusion system instantly hydrates maize flour on a single recirculation system. Dairy Gold has also benefited from energy savings and lower maize processing costs due to a significant reduction in capital equipment and energy efficiency. The ability to increase our maize concentration means we can create a higher quality product.”
OAL Group: Tel +44 1733 394 700; sales@oalgroup.com; www.oalgroup.com
Trade Kings Zambia: Tel +260 211 286 117 /27; info@tradekings.co.zm; www.tradekingszambia.com

Over the past four years Distell has been developing a “green plan” to install a common anaerobic
water treatment facility in the Stellenbosch area, Western Cape.
The facility is expected to lower the chemical oxygen demand (COD) load in the outfall to the municipality, harvest the energy in the waste water, and lower the overall cost of effluent treatment.
The Veolia Biobulk® Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR)
The contract to design, build and operate SA’s first Biobulk® waste water treatment facility was awarded to Veolia Water Technologies SA. Veolia uses innovative technology and specialised skills to achieve water sustainability for people and industries.
The Distell-owned plant will be ready for commissioning in March 2016.Distell has three operational sites in the Stellenbosch: Adam Tas, Van Ryn and Bergkelder.
The Biobulk CSTR technology is a robust and proven process which treats industrial effluents with significantly high amounts of suspended solids.It is the anaerobic equivalent of the conventional activated sludge digestion system. Blended solid or liquid waste streams enter the reactor and are treated by anaerobic suspended bacteria. The majority of the soluble or solid COD is converted into biogas, significantly reducing the solids concentration in the waste stream. After a retention time of
several days, the treated waste stream leaves the reactor.
The Biobulk can be operated as a once-through system. Alternatively, biomass can be returned after a
clarification stage. The key to the Biobulk design is the manner in which the reactor vessel is mixed and the design of the degassing stage prior to clarification.
Produced biogas is temporarily collected in the headspace of the Biobulk CSTR, which acts as a biogas holder.
Biogas can be used as a source of renewable energy or burned in a biogas flare.
Technology features:
• Tolerance for high concentrations of TSS, fats, oil and grease (FOGs).
• Medium volumetric loading capacity (2-5kg COD/m3/day).
• Energy source from biogas production.
• Economical operation.
• Proven reliability.
The technical manager at Veolia Water Technologies SA, Jaco Oosthuizen, says the system represents a long term capital saving.
“It brings with it an operating cost saving in that solids in the effluent no longer need not be removed. They can be converted to biogas (energy) in the reactor.”
The Biothane Biobulk® Anaerobic Digester is the heart of the plant. “Ancillary equipment includes storage
buffer tanks, clarifiers, the centrifuge, boiler and biogas flare. First, the digester reduces the effluent COD content by 94.1%. Next, a clarifier removes suspended solids, in turn followed by Veolia Hydrotech drum filtering for tertiary treatment. This ensures the total suspended solid (TSS) concentration is less than 150mg/l.”
On commissioning of the facility, a 10-year Build, Operate, and Transfer (BOT)agreement comes into force.
“The 10-year BOT contract will enable Veolia full ownership of the plant’s functions for the agreed period. This will ensure an appropriate transition from Veolia’s commissioning teams to its operations team,” says Oosthuizen.
Veolia’s Operations and Maintenance division in the Western Cape will perform all operations and maintenance functions for 10 years.
Veolia is mandated to deliver:
• The specified quality of water;
• Carry out ongoing maintenance;
• Ensure the plant’s operating performance is in accordance with set objectives.
Treatment
Veolia will treat 1,000m³ of effluent with an organic load of 8.6 tons COD per day. The water that is treated will be discharged to the municipal wastewater works.
The final effluent discharged to the municipality will contain less than 500kg COD per day and the suspended solids concentration will be less than 150mg/l.
Veolia’s operation and maintenance personnel as well as engineers from Biothane in the Netherlands will form part of the commissioning team. The operational personnel will be trained,via on-the-job coaching and theoretical training modules, to take over full plant responsibility.
Veolia Water Technologies South Africa:
Tel+27-11-663-3608; www.veoliawaterst.co.za
There are 2 major types of systems used for wastewater treatment
They are aerobic and anaerobic systems. This particular piece focuses on anaerobic treatment.
Anaerobic treatment is a process where wastewater or material is broken down by microorganisms without
the aid of dissolved oxygen. However, anaerobic bacteria can and will use oxygen that is found in the oxides introduced into the system or they can obtain it from organic material within the wastewater. Anaerobic systems are used in many industrial systems including food production and municipal sewage treatment systems.
Anaerobic digestion is commonly used to treat sludges in the first areas of a wastewater treatment plant. This process is popular because it is able to stabilize the water with little biomass production.
Anaerobic treatment occurs in many different stages. The key microorganisms are methane formers and acid formers.The acid formers are microorganisms that create various acids from the sludge.
Methane formers convert the acids into methane.
The two main anaerobic systems are batch systems and continuous systems. In a batch system, the biomass
is added into a reactor that is sealed for the rest of the digestion process. This is the simplest form of anaerobic treatment but can have odor issues associated with it. As the most simple, it is also one of
the least expensive ways to achieve treatment.
A continuous system has organic matter constantly added to the treatment system. Since it is continuously being fed, there is a need for the byproduct to continuously be removed. The byproduct can result in a constant source of biogas, which can be used as an alternative source for energy. This system is usually more expensive to operate because of the need for constant monitoring and manpower.
Whether it is aerobic or anaerobic treatment, each treatment system has its place in the world today.
They are very different in the process but both are used to achieve maximum degradation, while meeting
the strict regulations set by the environmental agencies that regulate what is released into the air, ground, or water.
www.ebsbiowizard.com

As sustainability makes waves in the corporate world, members of the food and beverage industry have begun to follow suit and take the necessary steps to go green. Little Green Beverages (LBG), manufacturers of the carbonated drink line Refreshhh brand, recently did an overhaul of their Isando factory in Johannesburg, in a bid to become completely eco-efficient
Reduce
Speaking to director Lyle Batchelor, the concept of being eco-efficient has always been on the cards for the manufacturer, it was merely a matter of the right time: “Our main focus for the company was to do the right thing with regards to our overall carbon footprint. In so doing, we were faced with the task of looking at our whole supply chain and seeing where we were able to reduce our carbon footprint. We
started with collaborations with our suppliers, encouraging partnerships that support our sustainability stance and furthermore exploring partnerships that will in turn be mutually beneficial.” LGB furthermore reduced part of their carbon emissions by purchasing a number of new delivery trucks which boast light
weight bodies.
Recycle
According to Batchelor, LGB found a perfect partner in Extrupet Group (Pty)Ltd, a modern recycling operation, dedicated to the recycling of post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles company also based in Johannesburg. Joint managing director at Extrupet, Chandru Wadhwani explains that it is a phenomenal step LGB is taking, “The volume of waste generated was growing faster than the recycling habits in South Africa. On the other hand our landfills are also inadequate and not entirely safe. The ability to recycle post-consumer bottles back into new PET bottles will help ensure the long-term viability of PET plastics recycling in South Africa. The resin will be used in new carbonated soft drink bottles for LGB.”
LGB partnered with a preform manufacture who uses a percentage R-Pet produced by Extrupet in a newly
designed preform for LGB. The preform is reheated in the green oven which is made out of ceramic heaters using less energy. The blower will then work at a lesser pressure resulting in further energy efficiency. This is truly a first of its kind in carbonated drinks; the goal has always been to move from just bottling water to carbonated soft drink with PhoenixPET.
Re-use
Wadhwani explains further: “PhoenixPET has the capability to provide a level of quality assurance to meet the growing local and regional demand in the bottle and thermoforming industry (the food, beverage and packaging market) for environmentally friendly and sustainable packaging. PhoenixPET is to be viewed
as a bench-mark for other recycled polymers as well as packaging mediums aspiring to attain a cradle-to-cradle solution for sustainable packaging.
Convertors and brand owners can now strengthen their corporate image with a sustainable message in all their products. By using food grade recycled PET, the demand for virgin material is decreased, less energy is used and a huge reduction in net carbon emissions achieved.
Both Batchelor and Wadhwani agree that the aseptic system machinery provided by Italian company SIPA, has
allowed for this revolutionary process to occur without passing the expenditure to consumers and retailers. Says Batchelor, “The investment from LGB, in the form of this highly technologically advanced
equipment, as costly as it was will not directly impact consumers via price changes. As it is a well-known fact,recycled material does cost more but the investment was never driven by returns but rather by carbon costing.”
So committed is LBG to reducing its carbon footprint that in the near future it will be upgrading the existing line to meet the standard of the new aseptic line along with inserting a new reverse osmosis water plant that will enable them to use recycled water for in-house use prior to dumping.
Little Green Beverages: Tel 011-865-2598;
info@refreshhh.co.za; www.refreshhh.co.za
PhoenixPET plant in Wadeville, Johannesburg was recently relaunched and now includes a state of the art Bottle-2-Bottle recycling plant furnished with Starlinger recycling technology, specially engineered to
fulfil the expectations and standards needed for bottles for carbonatedsoft drink, bottled water and all other forms of PET packaging. The whole expansion is worth R75-million. The plant is ISO 9001:2008 accredited and we use what we call NIR (near infrared) auto sort technology which is a first on the
continent. The system is such that the plastic bottles are automatically sorted by polymer types

Market leader Anheuser-Busch InBev NV went public with a takeover proposal for SABMiller PLC that valued the company at up to $104 billion after winning over its biggest shareholder, but the world’s No. 2 brewer said the price was too low.
A combination of the two companies would create a beer behemoth with unrivaled scale and reach, bringing brands like Budweiser and Stella Artois, which have been languishing in key markets, into new corners of the globe.
The deal faces many hurdles, from likely antitrust scrutiny to tensions between SABMiller’s two largest shareholders, which together control 41% of the company.
U.S. tobacco group Altria Group Inc., the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, owns more than 25% of the brewer and has said it would support a deal at or above AB InBev’s proposed price of £42.15 ($64.2) a share—a 44% premium over SABMiller’s Sept. 14 closing price, the day media speculation about a potential takeover began to circulate.
But Altria’s three representatives on SABMiller’s 16-member board were the only ones not rejecting the proposal Wednesday, which the board said “still very substantially undervalues SABMiller, its unique and unmatched footprint, and its stand-alone prospects.” – The Wall Street Journal

26th & 27th November 2015; Amabhubesi Training Centre, Ferndale, Randburg, Johannesburg

Africa’s dominant agricultural sector makes the continent a prime location for the establishment of agroprocessing industries. Processing of food adds value to agriculture and edible animal products by grading standardization, packing and preserving of produce so that products could be formed in such a way that they can be sold in market of the country and abroad. This is vital since it creates employment and helps in import substitution, foreign currency earnings from exports of processed products coming from agriculture, forestry and fisheries. African governments and the private sectors need to develop concerted efforts and strategies to support agro processing ventures since they convert raw materials into manufactured products and reduce the number of farmers practising at subsistence level. Agro processing in Africa is in the hands of the few conglomerates and this effectively closes doors for aspiring small holder farmers and small business to benefit from the earnings that agro processing has to offer. Agro processing can succeed if farmers and agro processors were able to access the requisite funding to embark on sustainable ventures. Investment, ICT, access to markets as well establishing and enabling environment also play a crucial role in making agro processing a success story. In many developing countries especially in sub-Saharan Africa, communities are largely rural and agriculture is often the sole source of household income. They earn low incomes and unemployment is high. Agro processing offers an opportunity to reduce hunger and fight poverty. South Africa is establishing
Agri Parks across the country. They seek to link production areas to support communities, smallholder farmers and emerging black farmers.
Discover the various funding opportunities which are available for aspiring small enterprises and agro processing ventures. Learn about the Agri Parks which the South African government is establishing in all the nine provinces in a bid to support communities, smallholder farmers and emerging black farmers. Network and mingle with funders, peers and decision makers in Southern Africa and even beyond. Identify and understand the factors which allow agricultural commodity value chains to grow and thrive. Learn about the challenges which face small holder farmers in their quest to market and process their produce. Learn valuable lessons from real life and successful case studies in East and Southern Africa on running viable cooperatives and community projects.
The summit seeks to explore ways in which such programs can be implemented sustainably and improve the standards of living of many who are struggling to make it.
Who Should Attend:
Directors and branch managers for agricultural produce retailing
Food processing companies
Heads for retail finance
Financiers and funding managers
Commodity brokers
Exporters and importers of agricultural produce,
Private sector value chain or multi-stakeholder associations
Farmer organizations and unions
Farming cooperatives members
Commodity group dealers
Civil society organizations actively involved in value chain work and policy makers.

The event will characterized by robust dialogue with leading experts around the challenges and opportunities for linking agriculture, processing and marketing.
Registration contact Micheal Chansa Tel: +27 11 326 0353; michael@amabhubesi.com

THE Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) approved R235 million for emerging farmers to acquire land to ease congestion in communal and state land across five provinces and boost food security. This is according to the department’s acting chief director:strategic communication, Sivuyile Mangxamba. He says the DRDLR spent an additional R69 million for farm recapitalisation.
According to his statement an estimated 145 permanent jobs are expected to be created from the 13 projects, with an additional 1 114 temporary jobs. Mangxamba says a total of 41 252 hectares were acquired in five provinces across the country under the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy (PLAS).
The PLAS seeks to acquire strategically-located land for redistribution to emerging farmers.
The acquisition approved will contribute towards achieving the development goals espoused in the National Development Plan. The department acquires farms through the PLAS. The acquisitions approved will contribute towards achieving the development goals as espoused in the National Development Plan.
According to the minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Gugile Nkwinti, this will go a long way towards fast-tracking service delivery in rural areas.
The applications indicated that most emerging farmers wanted to pursue livestock farming, crops, vegetables, game and poultry.
Funding applications were also used to purchase machinery, trucks, bulls, pregnant heifers and pack houses among others. – News24

China CAMC Engineering has announced plans to revive operations at Arda Mushumbi Pools Estate with a US$200mn investment. According to reports, the estate in Mashonaland Central region will get the money over the next five years, and the funding will be used to develop irrigation. The Chinese company had sealed a deal with Zimbabwe’s Agricultural Rural Development Authority (ARDA) to resuscitate the estate, but the deal is subject to approval by the country’s government through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.
Wang Kailong, country representative for Zimbabwe at China CAMC Engineering, said that his company was committed to helping the revival of agriculture in Zimbabwe, and that it had wanted to build a dam at Arda Mushumbi Pools that would irrigate about 1,000 ha.
He added that China CAMC Engineering would also set up a cotton ginnery and a fruit canning plant at Mushumbi. “We have already signed a contract with ARDA for us to build a dam, a cotton ginnery and a fruit canning plant at Mushumbi Pools,” he added. “The dam that we intend to build will also have the capacity to generate about 15MW of electricity that will provide power to the ginnery and canning plant that we want to set up at Mushumbi Pools.” Kailong added that the company is sourcing money for the project from Chinese banks. China CAMC Engineering has already supplied Zimbabwe with agricultural machinery such as tractors, combine harvesters and other implements worth about US$58mn since 2002.— www.africanfarming.net