by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 10, 2019 | Africa Focus
Although the past few months have been a struggle to secure grain supplies for Southern and East Africa, other parts of the world are in better shape and could help offset the shortfall. No indicator spells this out as clearly as the Food and Agricultural Organization...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 7, 2019 | Agricultural Labour Market
It has become fashionable in conferences to say “let’s make agriculture sexy in order to attract the youth”. I get where the sentiment comes from, after all, Africa’s farmers are ageing with an average age of 60. Here in South Africa, that number is estimated at 62....
by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 7, 2019 | Agricultural Production
We continue to observe developments in the winter crop growing areas of the Western Cape. There hasn’t been any notable rainfall thus far to improve crop growing conditions. The current weather forecasts show that the next two weeks could present more of the same –...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 5, 2019 | Agricultural Production
It has been 25 years since the dawn of democracy and the general mood in the country is pessimistic owing to poor economic fortunes and elevated joblessness, among other long-standing challenges. As an agricultural economist, it is not unusual to hear statements that...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 3, 2019 | Africa Focus
Government interventions in agricultural markets seldom lead to the desired outcome. I expressed this view when the Zimbabwean government banned sales of maize by farmers to anyone other than the government’s Grain Marketing Board at a prescribed price in June 2019....
by Wandile Sihlobo | Sep 30, 2019 | Agricultural Production
South Africa’s agricultural policy growth path has been clear as far back as 2012 when the National Development Plan (NDP) sketched higher growth potential and labour-intensive sub-sectors that could create jobs and increase the sector’s contribution to GDP. One...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Sep 27, 2019 | Agricultural Production
On September 25 and 26 I visited the Eastern Cape on the invitation of The Co-op – an agribusiness based In Humansdorp. I also used the visit to scan the agricultural activities in the province, with an intention to assess whether there is an increase in activity (and...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Sep 26, 2019 | Agricultural Production
The dry and warm weather conditions experienced in the Western Cape since the end of August 2019 have taken a tall on winter crops and the impact is evident at a national level given the significance of the province. Figures released earlier in the afternoon...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Sep 24, 2019 | Agricultural Production
In a Business Day column on September 4 2019, I noted that SA farmers have had one of the toughest years because of the combined effects of drought and animal disease that affected production and trade. But this is only one side of the story. Another side of the story...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Sep 22, 2019 | Agricultural Production
Farming is proving to be one of the more challenging vocations in SA because of the ever-changing risk environment. Not only must farmers monitor economic conditions, changing consumer preferences and social dynamics, but the weather is proving to be the most...
