What’s behind South Africa’s rising food prices
With ample agricultural harvests, why is South Africa still seeing food prices rising – and what is the outlook for the rest of the year?
Here are the challenges constraining faster and more inclusive growth in South Africa’s agriculture
South Africa’s agricultural sector could have expanded more than what we observed in the past decade had it not been hindered by the following challenges, (1) inefficiencies in state administration, (2) infrastructure challenges, (3) lack of security in rural areas and (4) prevailing uncertainty.
Custodianship of land can be a burden too heavy for the state to bear
The high court on the ruling Ingonyama Trust leasing land held in custody highlights the dangers.
Zimbabwe should improve its maize yields
The United States Department of Agriculture reaffirmed its view that Zimbabwe’s 2020/21 maize crop could amount to 2,7 million tonnes, almost 200% from the 907,628 tonnes produced in the previous season. Notably, this is the largest harvest since 1984/85. With Zimbabwe’s annual maize needs at roughly 2,0 million tonnes, there will be enough, and the country could even export if needs be, something that would be the first since 2001, when the country last exported maize.
JP Landman on South Africa’s failing Municipalities and Local Government
163 of the 278 local authorities in South Africa are in financial distress, and 40 are in serious financial and service delivery crisis.
Ghost towns across South Africa a growing concern for the farming community
The poor service delivery by municipalities is driving business away and leading to ghost towns. We have recently learned of a similar situation with Clover leaving Lichtenburg because of poor service delivery by municipal officials. This challenge is not unique to Lichtenburg but familiar across many towns across South Africa.
Sentiment in South Africa’s agriculture industry shoots to record high in Q2, 2021
South Africa’s agricultural sector has not, in the recent past, had a season as good as the current one. This is evident from the Agbiz/IDC Agribusiness Confidence Index (ACI), which in the second quarter of this year reached a record high (since its inception in 2001) of 75, from 64 in the first quarter of 2021.
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.
South Africa’s agriculture in good shape despite quarterly blip
The decline in the sector’s output for the 3 months ending March likely to be temporary with bumper harvests expected.
South Africa’s food price inflation could soften in the coming months
Production forecasts suggest that global crop prices from June going forward could soften slightly from the recent months’ levels, which could also influence the South African consumer food price inflation outlook.
