by Wandile Sihlobo | Jun 11, 2020 | Agricultural Production
This essay first appeared on Business Day, June 9, 2020 Some countries in the Southern and East Africa regions will again need large imports of maize in the 2020/2021 marketing year, which ends in April 2021. However, their saviours won’t be your typical major global...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Feb 19, 2020 | Agricultural Production
In his 2020 State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa noted that “this year we will open up and regulate the commercial use of hemp products, providing opportunities for small-scale farmers; and formulate policy on the use of cannabis products for...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Feb 8, 2020 | Africa Focus
Necessity is the mother of invention, and this rings true in Zimbabwe where the government is reformulating policy. The Zimbabwe government has for years maintained a ban on the importation or growing of genetically modified (GM) maize, but the current food shortages...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Feb 3, 2020 | Africa Focus
Nobel laureate, Paul Krugman, has popularized the term “zombie idea”, which is also a title of his new book – Arguing with Zombies. This term refers to “ideas that keep being killed by evidence, but nonetheless shamble relentlessly forward, essentially because...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Feb 2, 2020 | Africa Focus
Zimbabwe has always maintained a vague policy view on genetically modified crops (GM). In seasons of abundance, the country would place a ban on importation of GM crops, which would mean that South Africa, the only GM crop producer in Africa where roughly 80% of the...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Jan 31, 2020 | Africa Focus
If there is one thing that stood out for me in the South African agricultural markets yesterday, it was the reports of maize exports to Zimbabwe. In the week of 24th of January 2020, South Africa exported 16 210 tonnes of maize to Zimbabwe. This may not seem like a...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Jan 11, 2020 | Africa Focus
Note: I’ve recently opened a YouTube channel, which I hope to use frequently in 2020. Click here for a short clip summarizing the essay below. Last year I applauded the Zimbabwean government for having grasped the urgency of potential maize shortage in time and...