OVERVIEW Agriculture
OVERVIEW Agriculture Agricultural innovators are solving problems. SECTOR INSIGHT Agricultural concerns were winners at the annual Gauteng Accelerator Programme (GAP) innovation competition. The GAP awards, pictured, are run by The Innovation Hub, the innovation agency of the Gauteng Province, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency (GGDA). In the GAP Biosciences category Igagasi Biotech was awarded second place for its Cannconverter, which aims to use sustainable green chemistry to carry out a cost-effective enzymatic conversion of cannabis. Agang Bokamoso Farms achieved second place in GAP Green for a pipe system that keeps feeding plants even when irrigation systems fail due to power outages or pump failures. Category winners receive a share of R3-million in seed funding to further incubate their innovation at The Innovation Hub’s Business Incubations programmes. Since 2011, the GAP has attracted more than 1 600 entries across five categories. The photographs that appeared in the national media of the destruction caused by sinkholes in March 2023 in the Khutsong area focussed on homes and schools. However, experts from the African Centre for Disaster Studies also raised the issue of food security being affected by such natural disasters. Khutsong is in the Merafong City Local Municipality and close to the town of Carltonville, where many mines have closed down in recent years. The Gauteng Industrial Development Zone (GIDZ) located at OR Tambo International Airport has an agro-processing plant which is intended to encourage the export of high-value goods. The Provincial Government of Gauteng has set up Action Labs to focus on agriculture and agro-processing with a focus on land tenure issues and improving food security. Linking producers to the value chain will benefit township economies. Gauteng’s agricultural sector is focussed on producing ONLINE RESOURCES Agricultural Research Council: www.arc.agric.za South African Poultry Association: www.sapoultry.co.za The Innovation Hub: www.theinnovationhub.com vegetables. There is commercial farming in the southern sector of the province (part of South Africa’s maize triangle) and the farming of cotton, groundnuts and sorghum is undertaken in areas near Bronkhorstspruit (east) and Heidelberg (in the south). The province is home to some of South Africa’s biggest agricultural companies, including AFGRI. Africa’s largest feedlot for cattle is located in Heidelberg: Karan Beef ’s facility can accommodate 120 000 cattle. The feedmill processes 1 400 tons per day and the associated abattoir in Balfour in neighbouring Mpumalanga sometimes deals with 1 800 head of cattle per day. The Kanhym Agrimill in Vereeniging is one of three in the company’s portfolio, which collectively processes 250 000 tons of animal feed annually. Kanhym Estates is the largest producer of pigs in the country. There are many poultry farm and production facilities in Gauteng. Companies include Astral Foods, RCL Foods and Daybreak Farms. ■ GAUTENG BUSINESS 2023/24 20
Mining Excellence in manufacturing is being rewarded. The first MEMSA Manufacturing Excellence Awards unearthed some innovative and ambitious projects. Mining Equipment Manufacturers of South Africa (MEMSA) is an industry cluster established in 2016 with the support of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic). The 2022 awards evening was held together with SEIFSA Awards for Excellence. SEIFSA is the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa. The MEMSA awards are supported by the South African Mining Extraction Research, Development and Innovation (SAMERDI) programme, which in turn is backed by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and the Minerals Council South Africa (MCSA). Awards were given in four categories: Customised Customer Service, Localised Supply Chain, Manufacturing Solutions and MEMSA Member Manufacturer of the Year 2022. The Localised Supply Chain award was shared by Buraaq Mining Services and Rham Equipment, a South Africa OEM manufacturing hard and soft-rock mining machinery. NTGR Engineering Projects won the Manufacturing Solutions award for implementing GIS-based and advanced precision manufacturing technology. The award for Customised Customer Service went to ProProcess Engineering, and the MEMSA Member Manufacturer of the Year was Bell Equipment. MEMSA’s headquarters are located in the Mandela Mining Precinct in Melville, Johannesburg. The Precinct is a public-private partnership between the DSI and the MCSA and is managed by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Gauteng is home to most of the research and training bodies associated with mining. Sibanye-Stillwater supports the Wits Mining Institute’s Digital Mining Laboratory (Digimine). AECI, the explosives and chemicals company, sponsors the Virtual Reality Mine Design Centre at the University of Pretoria. Mintek is an autonomous body based in Randburg which receives about 30% of its budget from the Department of Mineral Resources. The University of Witwatersrand started life as the South African School of Mines. The School of Mining Engineering at Wits is the highest-ranked school at the university in terms of the QS World University Rankings. Pretoria University has a Department of Mining ONLINE RESOURCES Council for Geoscience: www.geoscience.org.za MEMSA: www.memsa.org.za Minerals Council South Africa: www.mineralscouncil.org.za SECTOR INSIGHT Gauteng is the home of mining research. OVERVIEW A MEMSA award winner. Rahm Equipment makes roofbolters for the mining industry. Engineering, the University of South Africa offers three national diplomas in mine-related fields, the University of Johannesburg has mine-surveying courses and the Vaal and Tshwane Universities of Technology have engineering faculties. Harmony Gold’s acquisition strategy, including the purchase from AngloGold of Moab Khotsong, will result in it being the country’s biggest gold producer. It could produce an annual total of 1.7-million ounces. A new company, Shallow Reefs Gold, has been created to pursue projects in the shallow reefs of the Witwatersrand Gold Basin. The company believes that the grade of the deposits makes for a good economic proposition. Cullinan diamond mine is engaged in an expansion programme called the C-Cut Phase 1 project. Cullinan is famous for its rare blue diamonds. ■ 21 GAUTENG BUSINESS 2023/24
