by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 17, 2020 | Land Reform
Essay by Theo Boshoff, Wandile Sihlobo and Prof Johann Kirsten[i] At the beginning of October 2020, South Africa’s Department of Public Works and Infrastructure published the Expropriation Bill (2020) in the Government Gazette along with an explanatory memorandum....
by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 15, 2020 | Agricultural Production
One feature that has characterised global agricultural markets over the past few weeks is rising prices. The growing demand from China as the country rebuilds its pig herd, which was decimated by African swine fever, combined with dry weather conditions that adversely...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 13, 2020 | General Comments
Agriculture has, for a long time, been dominated by men, from leadership positions to primary workers, where only a third of the labour force are women. Similar, black farmers in staple commodities such as maize, wheat and even including citrus and potatoes constitute...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 11, 2020 | Daily Notes
In the 2019/20 marketing year, Zimbabwe’s maize imports, specifically from South Africa didn’t gain much momentum until the start of 2020. This is when Zimbabwe’s maize stocks were already depleted following a season where the country produced roughly 777 000 tonnes,...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 8, 2020 | Daily Notes
Written for and first appeared on Fin24, October 5, 2020 The growth of South Africa’s agricultural fortunes and job creation will, in part, depend on the expansion of agricultural activities in the underutilised former homelands regions and farms that government...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 7, 2020 | Daily Notes
South Africa’s tractors sales maintained the positive path in September 2020, which has been underway since June, increasing by 23% y/y with 529 units sold (see Exhibit 1). This was boosted, to a certain extent, by improved farmers’ financial position following a...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 6, 2020 | Daily Notes
Zambia’s grain production has increased notably in the recent past, specifically maize, soybeans, and wheat. This has been boosted by both the expansion in area planted and improvement in yields. Zambia went from being a net importer of maize to an exporter in just...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 5, 2020 | Daily Notes
South Africa’s 2019/20 winter crops marketing year ended this past week. The key data point most analysts observe are wheat imports, as the country imports about 51% of its annual wheat consumption. We initially estimated the 2019/20 wheat imports to 1.80 million...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 4, 2020 | Daily Notes
The rising grain prices, which over the weekend I highlighted their impact on the livestock sector, present upside risks also to South Africa’s food price inflation. This is a case although the pass-through of the recent price increases remains fairly muted, with...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Oct 3, 2020 | Daily Notes
Ordinarily, at this time of the year, I would be writing about the upcoming summer crop season, which starts this month. But this year it is a hard act to follow due to several lingering, significant developments from the 2019/2020 summer crop season. Most notable of...
