by Wandile Sihlobo | Mar 14, 2021 | Africa Focus
Over the past two decades, South Africa’s agricultural output growth and rise in trade surpluses have been inspiring, and these successes give me much enthusiasm and optimism. In 2020 alone, amidst a pandemic, South Africa exported US$10,2 billion worth of agricultural products, the second largest on record. One market that has consistently been important to South Africa is the African continent, which on average, accounts for 40% of South Africa’s agricultural exports.
by Wandile Sihlobo | Mar 8, 2021 | Agricultural Environment and Natural Resource, General Comments
The Beneficiary Selection Criteria for land reform that were first suggested by the Presidential Advisory Panel on land reform is a first step in ensuring gender diversity. The policy proposes that the government should have a bias towards women and youth in its land reform process. In the 700 000 hectares of land that the government is in the process of releasing, we will be able to judge if women and youth are genuinely prioritized.
by Wandile Sihlobo | Mar 6, 2021 | General Comments
This week I participated in two podcast series; (1) on the Financial Mail and (2) on Earth Cast. In both sessions, we discussed various aspects of South Africa’s agriculture, land reform and rural development.
by Wandile Sihlobo | Mar 4, 2021 | General Comments
I am generally optimistic that South Africa’s food price inflation might not exceed an average of 5% y/y in 2021. The La Nina rains have boosted agricultural production – across all subsectors. For maize, which is essential and discussed extensively, we expect a harvest of 16,6 million tonnes (from 15,3 million tonnes in 2019/20). This will be the second-largest harvest on record and well above the Crop Estimates Committee’s estimate of 15,8 million tonnes.
by Wandile Sihlobo | Mar 3, 2021 | General Comments
South Africa is now ranked 69th most food-secure country out of 113 countries, from 44 (out of 113) in 2019. Technically, South Africa’s scoring dropped by just a point from last year’s position (scoring 57,8 down by 1,4 from 2019 in the Global Food Security Index). Still, other countries improved notably, resulting in a drop in South Africa’s ranking.
by Wandile Sihlobo | Mar 1, 2021 | General Comments
This paper proposes a theoretical enterprise development model of a Modified Agricultural Business Incubator (MABI) specifically tailored to South Africa’s agricultural sector’s developmental needs, both for primary producers and agri-processing businesses. This model is specifically designed to provide a supportive business environment for black agricultural business owners where a particular focus is placed on their developmental needs.
