What does the US-Africa strategy mean for South Africa and the continent?
The tail-end of 2018 was inundated with various news cycles, both domestic and international, which eventually over-shadowed a major policy pronouncement – The United States (US) Africa strategy. After two years without much clarity on the Trump Administration’s stance on Africa, it seemed ironic that the Africa Strategy almost went unnoticed, given that it was announced well into the festive season, with many institutions either wrapping up or closed for the holidays. Given the significance of the US’ Africa strategy, it is necessary to unpack it and discuss its implications for the continent.
Has the recent rainfall improved soil moisture in South Africa’s summer crop areas?
The past two week’s rainfall has resulted in an improvement of soil moisture in most parts of the country, albeit the western areas are still relatively dry. To demonstrate this improvement — Figure 1 below shows the subsoil moisture across the country in the week of January 8, 2019, while, Figure 2 illustrates subsoil moisture in the week of December 28, 2018.
Who are the key buyers of South African beef?
Seeing that there are concerns surrounding the potential impact of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in South African beef exports, I thought I should revisit a piece I wrote late last year – not about the disease, but beef exports. Here it goes: South Africa is...
An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the Vhembe district of Limpopo
This morning South Africa’s Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries informed us that there are positive laboratory results for Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in cattle in the Vhembe District of Limpopo – a bordering Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
