by Wandile Sihlobo | May 21, 2019 | Agricultural Trade
I just read an insightful, recently published paper from the International Monetary Fund titled: Is the African Continental Free Trade Area a Game Changer for the Continent? A brief background for folks who have not been following this discussion closely: in 2018,...
by Wandile Sihlobo | May 20, 2019 | Agricultural Labour Market
Essay by Wandile Sihlobo and Sifiso Skenjana[i] Now that the elections are behind us, the broader economic discussions are likely to remain focused on two crucial subjects – growth and jobs. In this, agriculture has...
by Wandile Sihlobo | May 17, 2019 | Food Security
With South Africa’s meat prices being in deflation over the past few months, one would easily assume that the beef industry has recovered from the 2015/16 drought which led to a reduction in the herd. Figure 1 illustrates South Africa’s cattle herd, and boy, we are...
by Wandile Sihlobo | May 14, 2019 | Agricultural Labour Market
Having written a bit about the promise of employment creation in SA’s agricultural sector, I was, again, given a reality check by the Quarterly Labour Force Survey data for the first quarter of 2019. The data shows that SA’s primary agricultural employment fell 1%...
by Wandile Sihlobo | May 13, 2019 | Agricultural Trade
The South Africa-China wool trade story is back in the headlines, but this time around in a good way. Nearly two months since the Chinese authorities temporarily suspended wool imports from South Africa because of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak earlier in the...
