My Talking Head on Magic Markets Podcast
This week I joined The Finance Ghost and Mohammed Nalla (Moe-Knows) to discuss the investment opportunity in the South African agricultural sector.
PODCAST: A conversation about South Africa’s agricultural economy, career, writings and more
I recently sat down with Ms Mbali Nwoko for wide-ranging conservation about South Africa’s agricultural economy, policy, career, writing and more.
My Talking Head on CNN
CNN International investigated the untapped potential of agriculture in Africa in its regular series Connecting Africa.
Communication is a crucial part of (agricultural) policymaking
Policymakers and senior government officials should remember that effective communication is not “a nice to do” but an integral part of policy-making.
Brief reflections on SA’s agricultural economy and women inclusion
The Beneficiary Selection Criteria for land reform that were first suggested by the Presidential Advisory Panel on land reform is a first step in ensuring gender diversity. The policy proposes that the government should have a bias towards women and youth in its land reform process. In the 700 000 hectares of land that the government is in the process of releasing, we will be able to judge if women and youth are genuinely prioritized.
Podcast discussions about South Africa’s agriculture, land reform and rural development
This week I participated in two podcast series; (1) on the Financial Mail and (2) on Earth Cast. In both sessions, we discussed various aspects of South Africa’s agriculture, land reform and rural development.
Reflections on South Africa’s agriculture and food price inflation path in 2021
I am generally optimistic that South Africa’s food price inflation might not exceed an average of 5% y/y in 2021. The La Nina rains have boosted agricultural production – across all subsectors. For maize, which is essential and discussed extensively, we expect a harvest of 16,6 million tonnes (from 15,3 million tonnes in 2019/20). This will be the second-largest harvest on record and well above the Crop Estimates Committee’s estimate of 15,8 million tonnes.
South Africa’s standing in the Global Food Security Index deteriorates
South Africa is now ranked 69th most food-secure country out of 113 countries, from 44 (out of 113) in 2019. Technically, South Africa’s scoring dropped by just a point from last year’s position (scoring 57,8 down by 1,4 from 2019 in the Global Food Security Index). Still, other countries improved notably, resulting in a drop in South Africa’s ranking.
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.”
Sihlobo is Senior Lecturer Extraordinary at the Department of Agricultural Economics at Stellenbosch University.
He is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the Wits School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand.
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.
Sihlobo was appointed as a member of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Presidential Economic Advisory Council in 2019 after serving on the Presidential Expert Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture between 2018 and 2019.
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 and Farmers Weekly magazine.