by Wandile Sihlobo | Mar 23, 2020 | Agricultural Production
I have been thinking a bit about what COVID-19 means for South Africa’s agriculture and food supplies. For my initial attempt in answering this question — download a paper I worked on today here. Follow me on Twitter (@WandileSihlobo). E-mail:...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Mar 19, 2020 | Agricultural Production
This essay first appeared on Business Day, March 18, 2020 The outbreak of Covid-19 will change the way we live our lives, without exception. The virus has raised serious concerns in society, ranging from health safety and economic conditions to essential food...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Mar 18, 2020 | Agricultural Production
The data released this morning by Statistics South Africa shows that the country’s food price inflation accelerated to 4.2% y/y in February 2020, from 3.7% y/y in the previous month. This uptick was mainly underpinned by relative price rises of meat; milk, eggs and...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Mar 12, 2020 | Agricultural Production
Amid the news flow of the coronavirus, which we have also contributed to (see here), there have been some positive developments on South Africa’s maize production front. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has revised its estimate for South Africa’s...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Mar 3, 2020 | Agricultural Production
South Africa’s farming economy was not in good shape in 2019. This is clear from the agricultural GDP data released this morning by Statistics South Africa. The data show a 6.9% year-on-year contraction for 2019, which is a second consecutive year of contraction in...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Feb 27, 2020 | Agricultural Production
This promises to be a good year for South Africa’s grain sector, at least from a production front. The data released yesterday by the Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) show that South Africa’s 2019/20 summer grains production could increase by 26% y/y to 16.8 million...
