Some African countries are still sceptical about planting Genetically Modified (GM) crops. However, farmers in the southern tip of the continent, South Africa, have long been planting GM crops for over a decade and there seem to be greater benefits in terms of yields and savings on input costs.

There is a broad consensus that agricultural development is key to unlocking the economic possibilities of the communal areas in SA. The National Development Plan confirms as much.

I am sure many will agree that this has been an eventful year for the South African sugar industry, particularly from a trade perspective. A few months ago, hardly a week would go by without seeing stories of sugar imports threatening the local industry.

There is a broad consensus that agricultural development is key to unlocking the economic possibilities of the communal areas in South Africa. The National Development Plan confirms as much.

The growing need to boost rural economic activity through agricultural development hasre-introduced the discussion on the subdivision of land to create as many small farms as possible that will benefit communities in South Africa.

Today I will participate in a roundtable discussion in East London, organised by the Provincial Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform. My focus area will be to provide a brief update on South Africa’s agricultural economy with a key focus on the role that the Eastern Cape can potentially play going forward, particularly from a job creation perspective.

At a gala event held in Stellenbosch on Friday evening, the Agricultural Writers SA announced the winners of the 2018 National Farmer, New Entrant into Commercial Agriculture and Agriculturist of the Year. The main sponsors of the event are Bayer, Santam Agriculture, Sanlam and Rovic Leers.

However, while food price inflation eased from double digits in 2017 to 0.5% year on year in October following a general recovery in agricultural production, the country is not completely out of the woods.

A recently published research paper by agricultural economists Jan Greyling and Philip Pardey in the Agrekon Journal brings home some key points about South Africa’s maize production in terms of commercial and smallholder share contribution. This is timely given the current debates about transformation in South Africa’s agricultural sector, with questions about the progress of smallholder black farmers arising.

Noticing another notable move in the South African maize (white and yellow) and sunflower seed prices . Both nearest and new season contract month prices of these commodities increased by more than R100 a tonne from levels seen on Friday (December 7).

Durban harbour is key to South Africa’s grain trade. In the 2017/18 marketing year, South Africa exported 2.3 million tonnes of maize (white and yellow). About 74% of this went to markets through Durban harbour (nothing through other harbours), with the rest exported by road and rail to the continent.

A bit of background — the South African livestock industry has somewhat recovered from the 2015/2016 drought, and that has led to increased slaughtering activity.

In Africa, having the largest cattle herd is not always a predictor of being the biggest beef or milk producer. Ethiopia, Sudan, Tanzania, Nigeria, Kenya are the top five countries with the largest cattle herds in Africa.

Countries such as Canada are making great strides in exploiting cannabis for economic purposes and job creation. On December 3, Kristine Owram, writing for Bloomberg, noted that “there has been a spike in postings for jobs at cannabis growers and retailers in Canada.

These past few days I shared contrasting views on the agricultural conditions between the western and eastern parts of South Africa due to variations in weather conditions. If there is one photo that clearly demonstrates the picture I was trying to paint, it’s this one – see Figure 1 below.

The tail-end of 2018 was inundated with various news cycles, both domestic and international, which eventually over-shadowed a major policy pronouncement – The United States (US) Africa strategy.

NewsDay (Zimbabwean newspaper) contains an interesting article today which includes snippets about the progression of Malawi’s agricultural production.

The South African beef industry has seen enormous growth in exports over the past couple of years, generating an estimated US$144 million in 2017.

The year 2019 will be a challenging one for South African beef cattle farmers. One challenge that became apparent by the end of 2018 was environmental related, as grain and oilseed producing areas of the country experienced dryness which led to delays in plantings, and thus leading to an increase in agricultural commodity prices, particularly maize.

This is a difficult year for Zimbabweans. Aside from the government’s recent decision to increase fuel prices, which led to a widespread resistance, Zimbabwe is likely to experience maize shortage later in the year, which would also result in an increase in food prices.