by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 23, 2018 | My categories
Don’t judge, I like window seats in a plane this time of the year, not because of amazing views or anything like that. But it really is the cheapest way to view from a distance whether there is progress in the fields in terms of planting. So yesterday afternoon on my...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 17, 2018 | My categories
The growing need to boost rural economic activity through agricultural development has re-introduced the discussion on the subdivision of land to create as many small farms as possible that will benefit communities. Some agricultural economists (myself included) have...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 16, 2018 | My categories
October 16th is World Food Day and maybe the most fitting thing to do would be to boast about South Africa’s progress in terms of food security, having been ranked by the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2017 Global Food Security Index the top in Africa. Perhaps, the...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 15, 2018 | My categories
It seems like the global agricultural observers have not fully factored in the possible effect of a weak El Niño in their grain production forecasts, specifically on South Africa. First, it was the International Grains Council at the end of last month which left its...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 11, 2018 | My categories
Many people are worried about the uncertainty surrounding the discussion about land reform policy in SA. However, some allow the fear to get ahead of themselves. I have heard folks saying “farmers stopped planting” in SA, possibly due to uncertainty caused by land...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 9, 2018 | My categories
OK, folks, I know this platform is for agricultural economics related notes, but an exception once in a while won’t hurt. Last night I met up with an old schoolmate, Nikkie Korsten, who is in town for a conference. Nikkie is a doctoral candidate at Stellenbosch...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 7, 2018 | My categories
On October 5, Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube, told Reuters News that his country is likely to produce 1.9 million tonnes of maize in 2018/19 production season, up by 12 percent from the previous season. You see, if this was going to be a normal season with...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 5, 2018 | My categories
Brief reflections on the Presidential Jobs Summit by Wandile Sihlobo and Tinashe Kapuya (PhD)[1] On Thursday, October 4, the National Economic Development Labour Council (Nedlac) convened the Presidential Jobs Summit whose renewed mission is to combat the country’s...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 2, 2018 | My categories
My good friend, Michael McDougall, at EDF Man Capital Markets, raised an important point in his daily newsletter – malnutrition. The gist of his argument: “The world produces enough food to feed the world 1.5 times over, yet malnutrition, either from undernourishment...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Sep 29, 2018 | My categories
I spent the last Saturday of the month in Rayton – a small town located in north-eastern Gauteng. I attended a farmers’ day where I was asked to present on the upcoming 2018-2019 summer crop production season in the context of rising farm input costs, changing climate...
