Livestock industry platform, EuroTier 2026, will be organising the DLG Innovation Award EuroTier 2026, where an independent panel of experts will be evaluating industry relevant innovations based on practicality, animal welfare, labour efficiency, and environmental and energy efficiency

This year, the Innovation Award has been bestowed for solutions encompassing diverse industrial needs such as resource-efficient feeding and animal-monitoring sensors to automated barn control and climate adaptation, as well as new, integrated husbandry concepts. The common factor binding these innovative offerings is integration of animal welfare and health, reduced labour burdens, cost-effectiveness, and the efficient use of resources.

With 217 innovations submitted and 176 qualifying, as well as four gold and 27 silver medals, every technical developments honoured stands apart in practical application scopes. They reflect comprehensive development trends over individual product trends. The awards will be felicitating exhibitors from 10 different markets across three continents.

Innovations in feeding is a key area for improving economic efficiency and sustainability. As animal-related sensors are becoming integral to digital barns, a shift is visible from mere monitoring to preventative and automated control.

Future-oriented livestock management systems are integrated to include link sensors, control systems, actuators and workflows that operate independently of the manufacturer, optimising workload as well as resource utilisation.

Artificial intelligence, bots, imaging techniques and health monitoring are defining today's digital herd management systems. Modern sensors and cameras are gathering ever more information on behaviour, performance, health and animal welfare, enabling the early detection of diseases and abnormalities, as well as more targeted breeding and management decisions. 

Poultry farmers in Teyateyaneng, Lesotho, have been encouraged to base production decisions on market demand to improve product quality, maintain reliable supplies and strengthen the sustainability of their businesses

The guidance was delivered during a three-day workshop for broiler and layer farmers organised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition at the Teyateyaneng Resource Centre. The training introduced participants to the Smallholder Horticulture Empowerment and Promotion (SHEP) approach.

Agricultural assistant Joalane Mekeleli explained that the SHEP approach encourages farmers to identify potential markets before beginning production, enabling them to tailor their products to customer expectations.

She noted that shortcomings in poultry production practices needed to be addressed, particularly in feeding and farm management, to ensure farmers could meet market requirements. She also urged producers to apply consistent feeding practices and maintain a steady supply of poultry products to support business continuity.

Livestock Area Technical Officer Mrs Itumeleng Lekhafola Masupha provided guidance on selecting appropriate sites for poultry farms, advising farmers to consider future expansion when choosing locations.

She recommended avoiding marshy areas and sites with excessive moisture. Trees close to poultry houses should also be avoided because they can restrict airflow and attract birds that may carry diseases capable of infecting chickens.

Farmers were advised to choose warm sites where electricity or solar power could supply lighting and heating for poultry housing.

Poultry housing and equipment

Masupha said farmers could choose poultry house lengths according to their operational requirements, while recommending a width of 12 metres.

She outlined several housing requirements, including floors designed to prevent water accumulation, sufficient lighting, mesh openings to support ventilation and ceilings that stop rainwater from dripping into the buildings.

Essential equipment for poultry operations includes feeders, drinkers, weighing scales, thermometers and cages for laying hens.

Farmers can select from several heating options, such as gas brooders, electric brooders, infrared heaters, coal stoves and gas heaters. However, Mrs Masupha advised choosing systems that generate as little smoke as possible to protect poultry health.

Other necessary supplies include feed, medication, record-keeping materials such as a book and pen, and cleaning tools including a wheelbarrow and spade.

Chick care, feeding and hygiene

For chick rearing, Masupha recommended preparing brooders measuring between 30 and 60 centimetres and laying bedding material to a depth of five to 10 centimetres.

Suitable bedding can include sawdust or grass, which should be covered with newspaper to prevent chicks from consuming the material.

She stressed that chicks need adequate warmth until they reach three weeks of age, with supplementary heating potentially required during particularly cold conditions.

Maintaining hygiene is also essential to preventing disease. Masupha advised farmers to wash and rinse poultry houses before applying disinfectants to eliminate germs. Daily cleaning, together with the use of sanitisers and footbaths, was encouraged as part of routine biosecurity practices.

Farmers producing eggs were also advised to remove broken eggs before collecting intact ones to minimise the risk of contamination.

Matching products to customer needs

The workshop highlighted the importance of understanding consumer preferences when preparing poultry products for sale. Some buyers may prefer particular chicken portions rather than purchasing whole birds, making it important for farmers to consider demand when deciding how to present their products.

Improving product quality was also identified as a priority for producers seeking to compete in international markets.

The training programme is expected to address feeding practices further and help farmers understand how to engage with different markets, identify their requirements and align production accordingly.

Exxaro Resources has officially opened a sheep-shearing and hydroponics facility worth R36 million (approx. US$2.18mn) in EliXeni Village, Cofimvaba, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape

The development reinforces the company’s efforts to expand sustainable economic opportunities and support community development beyond its mining activities.

Established under Exxaro Matla Mine’s Social and Labour Plan (SLP), the facility combines conventional livestock farming with modern agricultural production through a Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) hydroponics enterprise. It aims to strengthen agricultural productivity, generate employment, support sustainable livelihoods and increase local food production across EliXeni, eThunzini and Ezingxingweni villages in Cofimvaba. The infrastructure is intended to provide sheep farmers and hydroponics beneficiaries with opportunities to earn sustainable incomes while laying the groundwork for an agricultural hub serving the wider Cofimvaba community.

Construction encompassed site establishment, civil and structural works, a sheep-shearing shed, dipping facilities, equipment procurement, a packhouse and hydroponics infrastructure. The project has created employment opportunities for 74 people to date.

The facility is equipped to support substantial agricultural output. During the annual shearing season, the operation is expected to handle up to 500 sheep daily, producing approximately 22,418 kg of wool annually. The hydroponics enterprise consists of two tunnels, with an estimated annual capacity of approximately 90,000 heads of lettuce and spinach.

Ben Magara, CEO of Exxaro, said, “For Exxaro, impact is measured not only by what we extract from the ground, from solar and wind, but by what we help communities build beyond the surface for generations to come. This facility brings together traditional farming and modern agricultural technology to create sustainable economic opportunities, while demonstrating how SLPs can translate mining investment into meaningful socio-economic development. Although Cofimvaba is not a host community to our mining operations, it is part of our broader labour-sending footprint, and we believe our responsibility extends to the communities from which our people originate. By investing in productive infrastructure and sustainable livelihoods, we are helping build stronger, more resilient communities and ensuring that the benefits of mining extend beyond the mine boundary.”

The initiative also highlights the role of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in delivering sustainable community development. Such projects depend on collaboration between multiple stakeholders, combining financial resources with technical expertise, institutional backing, local knowledge and community participation. Bringing these contributions together can help establish initiatives capable of delivering long-term benefits.

Gwede Mantashe, minister of mineral and petroleum resources (DMPR), said, “We are pleased to hand over the newly constructed sheep-shearing shed to local farmers in Cofimvaba. We thank Exxaro for contributing to the construction of this important facility through its Social and Labour Plan. Named after the late Deputy President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Crosby Moni, the facility will support local farmers, create sustainable economic opportunities and strengthen agricultural development in the community. This is the transformation we seek to achieve in the mining industry, where mining is not only seen as extractive, but also as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and improved livelihoods. Mining must leave a lasting and positive legacy in both host communities and labour-sending areas”.

Exxaro’s investment reflects its wider approach to responsible business and sustainable social development. The company emphasises that its role extends beyond regulatory compliance and mineral extraction to include stakeholder engagement, community investment and a long-term commitment to improving social and economic outcomes.

The facility’s inauguration coincides with Exxaro’s 20th anniversary of listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The occasion offers an opportunity to consider the company’s development and its contribution to employees, communities, business partners and South Africa’s broader economy.

Looking ahead, Exxaro intends to continue collaborating with government, communities and other stakeholders to identify and develop initiatives that advance sustainable socio-economic progress. The company’s approach recognises that its long-term sustainability is closely connected to the resilience and prosperity of the communities within its wider social and economic network.

At the Africa Food Systems Forum in Kigali in September, more than 5,000 delegates representing over 50 countries considered a fundamental question: what tangible difference does investment make?

The discussion highlighted that Africa already has evidence of effective solutions. By Sofia Tesfazion, IRRI regional director for Africa

The challenge now is to establish the conditions needed to finance, implement and expand these initiatives by linking proven approaches with supportive policies, institutions, funding and markets to deliver lasting results. As CGIAR noted in Kigali, impact depends on science, evidence, policy, delivery systems and finance working together to move innovations beyond pilot projects and towards wider adoption.

Rice is central to this wider discussion.

Rice has become one of Africa’s most important and rapidly evolving food and economic commodities. Across sub-Saharan Africa, demand is rising faster than for any other staple, and the region accounts for approximately one-third of global rice imports. Africa’s annual rice import bill, estimated at more than US$6bn, illustrates both the size of the market and the opportunity for local farmers and businesses to capture greater value through stronger domestic and regional rice value chains.

It is encouraging that discussions about rice are increasingly moving beyond production volumes to consider the broader systems required to connect more than 35 million African smallholder rice farmers with markets. These include access to reliable seed, irrigation and water management, mechanisation, finance, processing, quality standards, logistics, market information, employment and trade.

These priorities align with the African Union’s CAADP Strategy and Action Plan 2026–2035 and the CAADP Kampala Declaration. The framework aims to increase agrifood output by 45%, reduce post-harvest losses by half, triple intra-African agrifood trade and mobilise US$100bn in investment. It also highlights the need to ensure that investment benefits farmers and businesses while helping keep food affordable for consumers.

Agricultural transformation requires commercially sustainable and resilient value chains that create value for everyone involved. Farmers, businesses, financial institutions and markets need to operate as connected parts of the same system. Examples of this approach are already emerging.

During the Kigali forum, six countries, Nigeria, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Ghana and Sierra Leone, launched the US$500mn West Africa Rice Investment Facility. The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development committed US$100mn. The initiative aims to combine public and private investment to support financing, agricultural inputs, processing capacity and private-sector partnerships throughout the rice value chain. It also builds on the ECOWAS Regional Rice Roadmap 2025–2035, demonstrating how West African countries are working collectively to shape their regional rice agenda.

However, Africa’s rice sector cannot be developed through a single model. Countries have distinct production systems, market conditions, constraints and objectives, and several are already demonstrating the results of targeted national strategies.

Tanzania has progressed beyond rice self-sufficiency, recording a self-sufficiency ratio of 112% in 2023/24 and supplying neighbouring countries. Ethiopia has designated rice a National Flagship Program. According to the country’s Ministry of Agriculture, smallholder rice cultivation expanded from 60,000 to 1.7 million hectares over five years, while imports declined by two-thirds.

Kenya is pursuing an irrigation-led strategy. Through its Rice Intensification Project, the National Irrigation Authority (NIA) aims to address the national rice deficit by increasing annual paddy production from approximately 300,000 tonnes to one million tonnes. It is expanding and rehabilitating irrigation schemes in coastal and western Kenya to bring more land into rice production.

The rehabilitation of schemes including Mwea, Ahero, Lower Kuja and South West Kano helped raise paddy production from approximately 192,000 tonnes in 2022 to around 305,000 tonnes in 2025. Farmers, millers and seed producers have also adopted Komboka, a high-yielding variety developed in collaboration with IRRI and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), following their involvement in its selection.

Recognising these national differences is essential to building partnerships around priorities identified by individual countries. Continental cooperation can help connect national experiences and strategies, while the African Union’s Agenda 2063 provides a long-term framework for transformation through sustainable development, regional integration, trade, science and technology, and private-sector growth.

Against this backdrop, the Global Rice Policy Dialogue, scheduled for 15–16 October in Addis Ababa, will bring together African and Asian perspectives. The event is co-hosted by the African Union’s Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy, and Sustainable Environment (ARBE) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), in partnership with AfricaRice and the CGIAR Policy Innovations Science Program. It is co-organised with the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR).

The Dialogue will give policymakers and experts an opportunity to examine how national decisions on rice production, competitiveness, reserves and trade influence markets across borders. Discussions will also consider practical approaches to building more resilient and predictable rice markets.

Participants will explore how countries can strengthen their rice industries while balancing sustainable production, competitiveness, farmers’ livelihoods, consumer interests, reserves and trade amid growing market uncertainty. The Dialogue also aims to establish a shared platform for examining the cross-border effects of national policies, testing potential responses to market shocks and identifying practical measures for national implementation and voluntary regional coordination.

Kigali placed the spotlight on what investment can change. In Addis Ababa, the focus for rice will be on making that change sustainable. Progress will depend on science, effective policies, strong systems and cooperation working together, enabling African countries to strengthen the growth and competitiveness of their rice sectors and navigate an increasingly interconnected global rice market on their own terms.