What does the US-Africa strategy mean for South Africa and the continent?
The tail-end of 2018 was inundated with various news cycles, both domestic and international, which eventually over-shadowed a major policy pronouncement – The United States (US) Africa strategy. After two years without much clarity on the Trump Administration’s stance on Africa, it seemed ironic that the Africa Strategy almost went unnoticed, given that it was announced well into the festive season, with many institutions either wrapping up or closed for the holidays. Given the significance of the US’ Africa strategy, it is necessary to unpack it and discuss its implications for the continent.
Has the recent rainfall improved soil moisture in South Africa’s summer crop areas?
The past two week’s rainfall has resulted in an improvement of soil moisture in most parts of the country, albeit the western areas are still relatively dry. To demonstrate this improvement — Figure 1 below shows the subsoil moisture across the country in the week of January 8, 2019, while, Figure 2 illustrates subsoil moisture in the week of December 28, 2018.
Who are the key buyers of South African beef?
Seeing that there are concerns surrounding the potential impact of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in South African beef exports, I thought I should revisit a piece I wrote late last year – not about the disease, but beef exports. Here it goes: South Africa is...
An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the Vhembe district of Limpopo
This morning South Africa’s Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries informed us that there are positive laboratory results for Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in cattle in the Vhembe District of Limpopo – a bordering Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Another challenging year for Malawians in terms of food supplies
The International Grains Council (IGC) forecasts Malawi’s 2018/19 maize production at 3.0 million tonnes, down by 14% from the previous season due to prospects of unfavourable weather conditions. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) paints a slightly gloomier picture, putting Malawi’s 2018/19 maize harvest at 2.8 million tonnes.
A very interesting and important discussion, with snippets about Africa’s economic development
The American Economic Association (AEA) recently held a three-day annual meeting to present and discuss research papers on a wide range of economics topics, amongst other matters discussed in the sessions. The agenda covered topical issues across subfields of...
US government shutdown impacts global agricultural data release
The current partial US government shutdown has affected the functions of the country’s Department of Agriculture, and thus leading to a delay in the release of World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate report which was originally scheduled for January 11, 2019.
Zambia’s maize harvest set to decline notably
Zambia’s maize crop is expected take a knock in the 2018/19 production season, to roughly 2.4 million tonnes, which is 33% lower than the previous season, according to data from the International Grains Council.
What is going on in Zimbabwe’s crop production?
The International Grains Council forecasts a notable decline of 45% year-on-year in Zimbabwe’s maize production in 2018/19 marketing year to 1.2 million tonnes. Now, in such an event, where will Zimbabwe get maize supplies to fill the domestic demand of 2.0 million tonnes?
