I spent my day in Free State where I participated in the South African Stud Book and Animal Improvement Association AGM.

South Africa’s trade policy is underpinned by an export-led growth strategy. This means the country essentially wants to grow its economy by deepening and expanding its export markets.

Over the past few months, I have written a few essays arguing that we shouldn’t worry much about the current heatwave in South Africa and that rainfall could soon provide some relief.

South Africa’s agricultural sector is having a déjà vu moment when it comes to drought and foot-and-mouth disease.

South Africa’s trade policy is underpinned by an export-led growth strategy. This means that the country essentially looks to grow its economy by deepening and expanding its export markets.

SA’s political leaders often mention agriculture as one of the sectors that will boost our economic fortunes and create jobs in rural areas. For a long time, this has been stated without a clear practical execution plan.

Since the news that South Africa could be hit by yet another drought, a frequent topic of discussion has been its possible implications on South Africa’s food price inflation.

The South African government and private sector players have embraced a vision of expanding labour-intensive subsectors as part of a broader agricultural development strategy

The Agbiz/IDC Agribusiness Confidence Index (ACI) fell slightly from 46 points in the third quarter to 44 in the last quarter of 2019.

In years to come when we read the agricultural economic history of SA, 2019 will be one of the toughest the sector has experienced in the past decade. 

There are preliminary indications that southern Africa could face another year of poor rains, which will inevitably lead to lower agricultural output.

December is always a great month for me to get insight into South Africa’s agricultural conditions in a much more relaxing way when compared to my typical farm visits.

As practising economists, we usually spend a substantial amount of time looking at the world through data generated by official government institutions, private sector businesses and households.

December is always a great month for me to get insight into South Africa’s agricultural conditions in a much more relaxing way when compared to my typical farm visits.

The rains of the past few weeks have been quite beneficial to South Africa’s agricultural sector.

This past week, the US and China signed a ‘phase one’ trade agreement, following months of tensions, negotiations and uncertainty.

Since the start of the year, we’ve been cautious about making a bold call on South Africa’s maize harvest in the 2019/20 season.

Today, South Africa’s Crop Estimates Committee will release its preliminary planting estimates for 2019/20 summer crops. This is important data as it will give an idea of the potential size of major grains harvest, such as maize.

 THE rains that fell in the past few weeks, albeit destructive in some cases, have lifted the doom around the agricultural sector across several countries in the Southern African region.

For years Zimbabwe has maintained a ban on the importation or growing of genetically modified (GM) maize.