The Weather and Trade Aspects Continue to Dominate SA Wheat Market
The weather and trade policy will remain topical issues in the South African wheat market for some time. From a weather perspective, the new season crop is still in its early stages of development which needs moisture. With the exception of the Southern Cape, the...The Great South African Honey Puzzle
A few days back I tweeted about honey adulteration issues – which simply means a production of fake honey using sugar or other ingredients. At the time I suspected that the issue would be linked to foreign products only. Well, turns out we also have bad guys here in...Scope for Growth and Employment in SA Agricultural Sector
I recently posted a graph on Twitter showing the past 100 years of South African agricultural employment, which has of course been declining for some time, in line with the international trend. The feedback from a couple of interactions suggested that the agricultural...
Zimbabwean Government will have to Lift the Maize Import Ban this Year
On Fridays I try to search for positive developments in the South African and regional agricultural sector, sometimes without success, to share in this blog. Today I will put the spotlight on Zimbabwe’s maize industry. My good friend and fellow agricultural economist,...SA will have Sufficient Maize Supplies in 2018/19 Marketing Year
I have recently discussed South Africa’s maize production dynamics, but I thought it would be good to provide an update following the recent data releases this week. One of those data releases was the United States Department of Agriculture’s monthly update. The...Maize Harvest Activity Gaining Momentum in South Africa
Maize harvest activity is gaining momentum across South Africa, thanks to favourable weather conditions. The progress is reflected in the volumes of maize delivered to commercial silos which amounted to 511 875 tons in the week ending 08 June 2016, well above the...
Wandile Sihlobo is the Chief Economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz) and the author of “Finding Common Ground: Land, Equity, and Agriculture.”
Sihlobo is Senior Lecturer Extraordinary at the Department of Agricultural Economics at Stellenbosch University.
He is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the Wits School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Fort Hare and a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from Stellenbosch University.
Sihlobo was appointed as a member of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Presidential Economic Advisory Council in 2019 after serving on the Presidential Expert Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture between 2018 and 2019.
He is also a member of the Council of Statistics of South Africa (Stats SA) and a Commissioner at the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC).
Sihlobo is a columnist for Business Day and Farmers Weekly magazine.