by Wandile Sihlobo | Feb 8, 2020 | Africa Focus
Necessity is the mother of invention, and this rings true in Zimbabwe where the government is reformulating policy. The Zimbabwe government has for years maintained a ban on the importation or growing of genetically modified (GM) maize, but the current food shortages...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Feb 4, 2020 | Africa Focus, Agricultural Production
The South African Crop Estimates Committee has revised down further its estimate for the country’s 2019/20 wheat harvest to 1.5 million tonnes. This is 20% lower than the previous season. The downward revision is mainly on the back of poor harvest in parts of the Free...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Feb 3, 2020 | Africa Focus
Nobel laureate, Paul Krugman, has popularized the term “zombie idea”, which is also a title of his new book – Arguing with Zombies. This term refers to “ideas that keep being killed by evidence, but nonetheless shamble relentlessly forward, essentially because...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Feb 3, 2020 | Africa Focus
On the 14th of August 2019, Nigeria announced that there would be restrictions on food and agricultural imports in the country. President Buhari took to Twitter to explain his rationale behind this step (see here). In summary, President Buhari wants to improve...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Feb 2, 2020 | Africa Focus
Zimbabwe has always maintained a vague policy view on genetically modified crops (GM). In seasons of abundance, the country would place a ban on importation of GM crops, which would mean that South Africa, the only GM crop producer in Africa where roughly 80% of the...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Jan 31, 2020 | Africa Focus
If there is one thing that stood out for me in the South African agricultural markets yesterday, it was the reports of maize exports to Zimbabwe. In the week of 24th of January 2020, South Africa exported 16 210 tonnes of maize to Zimbabwe. This may not seem like a...
