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

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.

My last column two weeks ago painted a bleak picture of SA’s 2019/2020 agricultural outlook, highlighting prospects of drought in some regions of the country. Lately, conditions have improved notably, and farmers managed to plant the area they intended.

Necessity is the mother of invention, and this rings true in Zimbabwe where the government is reformulating policy.

Nobel laureate, Paul Krugman, has popularised 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 they suit a political agenda".

In this year’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Ramaphosa reaffirmed the government’s commitment to ensuring that agriculture is amongst the key sectors that will drive growth and job creation in South Africa.