BLOG
Additional thoughts on El Niño impact on SA agriculture in 2023/24 season
The South African Weather Service released its Seasonal Climate Watch update highlighting that "the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is currently in an El Niño state and, according to the latest pr.....
Read More
Insights on South Africa's consumer food price inflation data for February 2023 - a brief analysis
South Africa's consumer food price inflation accelerated mildly to 14% y/y in February 2023 from 13,8% in the previous month. The food product prices that increased notably were meat; milk, eggs and c.....
Read More
New national minimum wage an outlier
From an economic point of view, labour is a production input which, along with other production inputs, plant and property determine the production costs. Labour is, however, not merely a cost calcula.....
Read More
Agricultural fortunes in 2022
After a solid performance of 8,8% y/y in 2021, we thought South Africa's agricultural gross value added would contract mildly in 2022. But the data released today by Statistics South Africa paints a s.....
Read More
Highlights on energy matters from various government speeches
The energy challenges of agriculture were highlighted in various speeches this past week. First, the 2023 Budget Speech by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana outlined the implementation of the refund o.....
Read More
SA agriculture exports showed resilience in 2022 despite headwinds
This data is particularly encouraging since 2022 presented various challenges to South Africa's agriculture. At the start of the year, logistical challenges in the ports of Cape Town disrupted the exp.....
Read More
Very encouraging tractor sales in South Africa
I have been closely following South Africa's monthly tractors sales data, and the results continue to surprise me. Since April 2020, the monthly sales have remained positive, registering an average of.....
Read More
Agricultural finance is key to South Africa's inclusive agricultural growth agenda
We have spent the past couple of months in South Africa's agriculture drafting the growth strategy that would take the sector to greater heights than the gains we have seen since 1994. The sector has .....
Read More
Valuation, the role of the OVG and a formulistic approach to applying section 25(3) of the Constitution
The origins of the Office of the Valuer-General (OVG) lie in the 2011 draft Green Paper on Land Reform. The OVG was supposed to provide fair and consistent land values for rating and taxing purposes, .....
Read More
Thinking about KwaZulu-Natal's agriculture and food production in this time of crisis
What we witnessed in KwaZulu-Natal over the past couple of days is heartbreaking – the loss of lives and the destruction of communities and businesses are unbearable. As President Cyril Ramaphosa po.....
Read More