by Wandile Sihlobo | Jul 21, 2019 | Agricultural Trade
The Business Times newspaper ran a piece today warning that the growing strikes in South African ports could weigh on agricultural exports, particularly the Citrus industry. But this is not where the story ends. There are also infrastructure challenges in the South...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Jul 21, 2019 | Agricultural Production
Essay by Professor Mzukisi Qobo[1] and Wandile Sihlobo[2] Marijuana, cannabis, dagga, weed, pot, Durban poison, ganja, mbanje, insangu, umya — call it what you may, cannabis is set to become a booming industry in the foreseeable future. Cannabis has now been...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Jul 20, 2019 | Agricultural Production
I’ve previously presented the case for agriculture as one of the sectors that could boost rural economic growth and employment in South Africa. The sub-sector that has attracted attention in the recent past is horticulture because it is labour intensive. Within the...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Jul 19, 2019 | Agricultural Production
If the U.S. maize crop was at an advanced stage of growth, the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report would have convinced us that the supplies will be in better shape than initially feared. Last week, the agency lifted its estimate for U.S. maize...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Jul 14, 2019 | Agricultural Production
“An unemployed, dope-smoking Rastafarian has emerged as a key source for public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s explosive report on public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan.” – this is an opening line of a lead story in today’s Sunday Times issue, South...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Jul 11, 2019 | Agricultural Environment and Natural Resource
Erratic weather conditions and more frequent droughts and floods are exacerbating uncertainty in the agricultural sector. While these have largely been a phenomenon of sub-Saharan Africa and Asian countries, the Americas are also starting to experience these harsh...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Jul 10, 2019 | Agricultural Environment and Natural Resource
The effects of the changing climate, which is, of course, a global challenge, have been felt in Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia in the recent past. This has been through erratic rainfalls and more frequent occurrences of droughts and floods. For countries whose...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Jul 8, 2019 | Agricultural Production
I’ve just got off the phone with a few maize farmers from the North West – a province that produces about 15% of South Africa’s maize. They have recently started harvesting, and are rather disappointed with the yields thus far. Now, let me provide a brief context. In...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Jul 6, 2019 | Agricultural Environment and Natural Resource
I wasn’t planning on blogging today, but since I’m currently sitting at the car wash and the queue is long, I might as well use this time to say a few words about South Africa’s latest agricultural machinery sales data. The figures for June 2019 showed a drastic...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Jul 5, 2019 | Food Security
My comments on the spreading of African Swine Fever in Asian countries have largely been on the market perspective – what the virus means for the global pork supply, consumer prices, etc. But I have noticed that some readers were concerned about the human health...
