Thoughts on South Africa’s agricultural jobs data
I just went through Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey data for the third quarter of 2019. The primary agricultural numbers were a pleasant surprise, showing a 4.5% y/y uptick to 880 000. I say “surprise” because the third quarter of each year is...
Is it true that SA youth doesn’t like farming because it’s not sexy?
It has become fashionable in conferences to say “let’s make agriculture sexy in order to attract the youth”. I get where the sentiment comes from, after all, Africa’s farmers are ageing with an average age of 60. Here in South Africa, that number is estimated at 62....
What’s needed for South Africa’s agriculture to boost jobs?
I have been punting that agriculture could help boost employment in South Africa, but the latest jobs data are a reminder that fundamental change is essential. Today, July 30, we learned that South Africa’s primary agricultural employment fell by 0.2% in the second...
Agriculture can help SA raise a fine crop of jobs
Essay by Wandile Sihlobo and Sifiso Skenjana[i] Now that the elections are behind us, the broader economic discussions are likely to remain focused on two crucial subjects – growth and jobs. In this, agriculture has...
Only an increase in area farmed would notably induce employment in SA agriculture
Having written a bit about the promise of employment creation in SA’s agricultural sector, I was, again, given a reality check by the Quarterly Labour Force Survey data for the first quarter of 2019. The data shows that SA’s primary agricultural employment fell 1%...
The new administration should boost agriculture to stimulate job creation
In less than 24 hours from now, South Africans will head to the voting stations to elect a political party or parties to government. After elections, the party with most votes will, through its majority in the National Assembly, determine who becomes president. The...
Zimbabwe’s food insecurity could increase
It is hard to get a clear picture of crop conditions in Zimbabwe after Cyclone Idai. But reports from a number of media outlets who have people on the ground paint a concerning picture. This afternoon, Al Jazeera came out with a headline — Cyclone Idai...
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“.
He is a Senior Lecturer Extraordinary at the Department of Agricultural Economics at Stellenbosch University and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Wits School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand.
Sihlobo was appointed as a member of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Presidential Economic Advisory Council in 2019 (and re-appointed in 2022), having served on the Presidential Expert Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture from 2018.
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, The Herald and Farmers Weekly magazine.
His weekly podcast, “Agricultural Market Viewpoint with Wandile Sihlobo“, is available on all podcast platforms.
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.