This week SA Canegrowers’ field staff in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga were hard at work taking services and information sharing to sugarcane growers in both the small-scale and large-scale sectors.
In the Inanda district, Senior Agricultural Business Advisor on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast, Nothando Buthulezi together with a team of staff hosted a cane estimate field day for small-scale growers who supply the Maidstone mill. The work was carried out on a Mintirho Foundation-funded seedcane plot in the area.
Buthulezi said the purpose of the event was to compare the performance of three different cane varieties, namely N52, N55 and N59. “This will assist small-scale growers to make informed decisions when they choose the varieties they want to plant in their fields while also being able to increase access to newer varieties in these far-flung areas.
Meanwhile in Hectorspruit in Mpumalanga members of the Onderberg Boere Unie and SA Canegrowers hosted an information day on solar powered farming solutions with the solar company, oneSolar.
SA Canegrowers Senior Regional Manager for the region, Jacques Schoeman said the day was aimed at promoting innovation among members. “We looked at where and how solar energy could be used and the costings and financing of any possible conversions,” Schoeman said,
