The South African agricultural sector, and specifically the expansion in the sector over the recent past, is heavily reliant on exports.

The South African agricultural sector, and specifically the expansion in the sector over the recent past, is heavily reliant on exports. In fact, South Africa exports roughly 49% of its agricultural products in value terms.

It is almost certain that SA’s agricultural economy will contract in 2019, mainly as a result of the poor summer crop harvest coming after drought.

We can have different views about the agricultural policies that the South African government adopted since the dawn of democracy, but the one thing we can all agree on, I hope, is that the sector has grown tremendously –

Addressing gender disparities in the agricultural sector is a prerequisite to increasing women and youth participation in the sector, creating much-needed employment opportunities and ensuring food security, says agricultural economist Wandile Sihlobo.

It is almost certain that SA’s agricultural economy will contract in 2019, mainly as a result of the poor summer crop harvest coming after a drought.

In the 05 August 2019 note we sketched out the importance of the recently signed African Continental Free Trade Agreement to South Africa’s agricultural sector .

On 25 August 2019, we learned that the Zambian government has placed a price cap of $199 per tonne on maize (approximately R3 023) and has justified its actions by noting its concerns over rising maize prices, which could disadvantage many poor Zambian households.

Preliminary data from South Africa’s Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) suggest that the country could harvest 1.92 million tonnes of wheat in the 2019/20 production season.

Although donor funds have assisted with training farmers, providing inputs such as seeds and machinery, and building agriculture-related infrastructure, the sector has experienced limited growth. Ultimately, institutional reform lies at the heart of sustainable agriculture development in southern Africa.

A few weeks back we noted that it is almost certain that South Africa’s agricultural economy will contract in 2019, mainly as a result of the poor summer crop harvest coming after a drought

Although South Africa’s economy has recovered from the previous quarter’s economic performance with a 3.1% quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted growth rate (q/q saar), agriculture did not contribute to the improvement.

This has not been a good year for South Africa’s farming sector and related industries.

While having improved from the first quarter of the year, South Africa’s agricultural trade surplus narrowed by 30% in the second quarter of this year compared to the corresponding period in 2018, recorded at US$789 million.

This has not been a good year for the global wool industry. The world’s top two wool-producing countries – Australia and South Africa — are experiencing different, yet growth-constraining, challenges.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has also joined the party in forecasting a potentially big maize harvest for South Africa in 2019/20 season.

In recent decades, donors have poured billions of dollars into boosting agricultural production in Southern Africa.

This is not a good year for South Africa’s agricultural sector.

We remarked that South Africa could have the biggest wheat harvest in a decade in our note on 27 August 2019.

Statistics South Africa released second-quarter figures in September which showed seasonally adjusted gross value added in the agricultural sector fell by 4.2% quarter on quarter on an annualised basis, after a 16.8% decline in the first quarter. Could this be the new normal?