One of the dominant questions in South Africa’s agricultural policy since the dawn of democracy is the need to accelerate land reform to ensure the inclusion of black farmers in the sector.
The latest policy discussion document published by the African National Congress (ANC) presents a positive change from the ambiguous agriculture policy the South African governing party has maintained in the recent past.
South Africa’s 2021/22 summer crop harvest activity is underway and the initial yields reports are positive. Thus, we welcome the positive picture painted by the Crop Estimates Committee’s fourth production estimate released this past week.
Few things rekindle the spirit of optimism more than seeing a vibrant gathering of industry stakeholders showcasing new technologies and product solutions to boost the productivity and growth of a sector.
Since the Russia-Ukraine war began four months ago, food security has dominated global media headlines. While prices of food products are rising globally, not all countries are negatively affected the same way.
I recently joined Peter Bruce for a wide-ranging conversation about South Africa’s Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan and the ANC’s policy views on agriculture and land.
The data released by Statistics South Africa this past week showed that the country’s consumer food price inflation decelerated to 6,3% y/y in April 2022 from 6,6% y/y in the previous month. This is on the back of relatively softer price increases in meat; milk, eggs and cheese; and vegetables.
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.