News

The purpose of the Eastern Cape Red Meat Project (ECRMP) is to enable communal and emerging farmers to participate more fully in formal red meat markets. Toward this goal ComMark has drafted two new Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and the Eastern Cape Department of Agriculture (ECDA). As ComMark, the ARC and the ECDA share strategic interests in the promotion and development of emerging and communal cattle farmers in the Eastern Cape, these partnerships make development sense.

ComMark is committed to addressing food security in worker communities in and around Maseru, Lesotho. Through the Food Gardens Project, initiated by ComMark and co-funded with Catholic Relief Services in Lesotho, we leverage and add value to the labour-intensive clothing and textile training programmes that we have sponsored in Maseru over the past five years. With ComMark partner, ALAFA, the project is targeting 5,000 poor households in urban and peri-urban areas. Thus far, 3639 households are included in the project.

The Southern African Trust and Mail & Guardian’s Drivers of Change Award recognises individuals or organisations in the southern Africa region that are making a real impact, especially in developing effective public policies and strategies to overcome poverty. It is awarded in three categories: civil society, government, and business.

The Apparel Lesotho Alliance to Fight AIDS (ALAFA) has received the regional Drivers of Change Award for 2008 in the business section for the work it is doing in the apparel industry in Lesotho.

The Drivers of Change Award, organised by the Southern Africa Trust, is a prestigious non-monetary award that recognises individuals and organisations from across the southern Africa region that are making a difference, especially in developing effective public policies and strategies to overcome poverty. It is awarded in three categories: civil society, government and business.

South Africa’s fruit and wine exporters on 7 July 2008 launched an innovative research programme to measure the carbon footprint of the industry. The project will also establish how the South African industry measures up, in terms of its carbon emissions, internationally. As part of the initiative, the process will enable the sector to formulate a carbon reduction plan with effective mitigation and adaptation strategies to meet the challenge of climate change.

It will be the first such industry-wide measure to be developed in South Africa. The research is co-ordinated by the Deciduous Fruit Producers Trust, managed by ComMark’s Regional Standards Programme, and co-funded by DFID, ComMark and the Deciduous Fruit Producers Trust.

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The first organic cotton planted on a commercial scale was harvested on 29 May at the Hanneline farm in Limpopo. Woolworths, in cooperation with ComMark, Cotton SA, the Organic Exchange and the Agricultural Research Council (ARC's) Institute for Industrial Crops, had established this project in 2004 to produce clothing made from 100% organic cotton.

Cape Town – Nearly 10 million Africans depend on the fishing industry for their livelihoods. In order to secure incomes, the continent’s fish stocks and marine ecosystems need to be preserved. With this in mind, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) [1] has opened an office in South Africa and hired new staff to implement its fishery certification and seafood eco-labelling programme for wild capture fisheries in the Southern Africa Development Community.

Since introducing South Africa’s first clothing made from 100% organic cotton in 2004, Woolworths has spearheaded initiatives to establish a local pipeline for organic cotton. These efforts have now borne fruit, as South Africa’s very first commercial-scale organic cotton crop is now being harvested in Limpopo.  Soon it will be spun, dyed, knitted or woven into cloth and will make its way to Woolworths in items ranging from t-shirts to towels.

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Since introducing South Africa’s first clothing made from 100% organic cotton in 2004, Woolworths has been spearheading initiatives to establish a local pipeline for organic cotton. Their efforts have now borne fruit, as this summer sees the planting of South Africa’s first commercial scale trial crop of organic cotton.