by Wandile Sihlobo | Aug 1, 2020 | Agricultural Production
It has become increasingly challenging to forecast agricultural production seasons with any level of confidence. One of the factors that have contributed to this challenge is more unpredictable weather conditions, especially over the last decade. SA has not only...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Jul 23, 2020 | Agricultural Production
This essay first appeared on Business Day, July 21, 2020 As SA’s summer crop — which includes maize — is set to be one of the best on record, focus now shifts to the outlook for winter crops, specifically wheat. Alas, for wheat farmers the 2020/2021 season had a bad...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Jul 16, 2020 | Agricultural Production
In the second week of July 2020, the Economic Transformation Committee of the African National Congress (ANC)[1] and Business for South Africa (B4SA)[2], released their respective strategy documents for the post-COVID-19 inclusive economy recovery for South Africa....
by Wandile Sihlobo | Jul 9, 2020 | Agricultural Production
The locusts which emerged in East Africa towards the end of last year remain a serious challenge for the agricultural sector. This is specifically the case in Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia, according to reports from the Food and...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Jul 4, 2020 | Agricultural Production
The high-frequency data on both domestic and global markets reinforced our view that grain prices could be under pressure this year and that, in turn, could lead to subdued food price inflation. In June 2020, the International Grains Council (IGC) lifted its estimate...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Jun 30, 2020 | Agricultural Production
I usually blog on Thursday evenings but we had important data today, June 30. So, I figured it would be good to tap in and provide a synopsis of it. After experiencing four consecutive quarters of contraction because of droughts and foot-and-mouth disease amongst...
