by Wandile Sihlobo | Aug 19, 2019 | Africa Focus
The headline of this post captures the consistent question I kept getting from folks after publishing an essay arguing that the recently launched African Continental Free Trade Agreement would potentially open additional avenues for South African products to...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Aug 12, 2019 | Africa Focus
Droughts or floods always have a devastating impact on agriculture. But the second-round effects on livelihoods are manageable in countries that are economically stable, depending of course on the magnitude of the impact. However, for countries, with economic...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Aug 5, 2019 | Africa Focus
The South African agricultural sector, and specifically the expansion in the sector over the recent past, is heavily reliant on exports. In fact, South Africa exports roughly 49% of its agricultural products in value terms. Hence, the newly launched African...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Jul 3, 2019 | Africa Focus
In economics, natural experiments are hard to come by, but once in a while, you hit a jackpot without even paying a lottery ticket. For agricultural policymakers in South Africa and the continent at large, the recent developments in Zimbabwe are one such experiment....
by Wandile Sihlobo | Jun 28, 2019 | Africa Focus
I’ve noticed on the news wires this evening that Zimbabwe has banned its local farmers from selling maize to anyone other than the state Grain Marketing Board as the government moves to keep prices of the staple food down. This move follows a poor harvest after...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Jun 24, 2019 | Africa Focus
Sometimes the light comes from the most unusual places. This morning Bloomberg put out a piece noting that Tanzania is set to sell 1 million tonnes of maize to neighbouring Kenya which is facing a major maize shortfall this year. At first glance, one would think –...
