by Wandile Sihlobo | May 26, 2020 | Africa Focus
Since the pandemic started several countries have adopted restrictive trade policy approaches such as export bans and export quotas. The justification for such policies was consumer-focused, as the countries needed to ensure domestic food security during this...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Apr 30, 2020 | Africa Focus
This essay first appeared on Business Day, April 28, 2020 Global food and agricultural supply chains are taking strain from disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. This is the case whether one looks at meat or grain supply chains. First, the US, Brazil and...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Apr 24, 2020 | Africa Focus
The COVID-19 pandemic will exacerbate an already dire situation of food shortage in some African countries. Professor Mzukisi Qobo (Head of Wits School of Governance, University of Witwatersrand), Isaah Mhlanga (Chief Economist at Alexander Forbes) and I have an essay...
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...
