by Wandile Sihlobo | Apr 12, 2019 | General Comments
It is easy to overlook the importance of the South African agricultural sector if one only views it from its contribution as a share of the GDP, which has declined from 4.2% in the 1996 to 2.6% in 2017. What is often not captured in this narrative, is the fact that...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Apr 10, 2019 | Food Security
The South African government has detected an outbreak of African swine fever on a farm in North West. The African swine fever is a fatal animal disease affecting pigs and wild boars with up to 100% mortality, but it is harmless to humans. Now, the reports suggest that...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Apr 10, 2019 | Africa Focus, General Comments
I spent the better part of yesterday at the International Trade Commission of South Africa (ITAC) where I moonlight as a Commissioner focusing on trade matters. In the midst of all that, I missed some interesting news on Zimbabwe’s land reform story. Reuters, an...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Apr 9, 2019 | Food Security
While it remains a challenge to get a clear picture of the scale of damage to maize fields in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe after Cyclone Idai, my back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest these countries will collectively have to import more than 1-million tonnes...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Apr 8, 2019 | Agricultural Trade
The growing emphasis that agriculture should be amongst the key sectors driving the South African economy and job creation has mainly leaned on potential expansion in hectares of labour-intensive, and globally sought-after horticulture products, as well as traditional...
