BFAP Agricultural Employment Brief – 2021 Q2

This agricultural employment brief interprets and contextualizes the latest quarterly labor force survey from Stats SA and provides insights on the major factors driving agricultural employment. Click here to download the report.

Research and Development are key to Resilient Food Systems in Africa

By Lulama Ndibongo Traub, Thomas Jayne & Wandile Sihlobo. This article was first published on The Conversation on August 1st 2021 What will it take to build sustainable, resilient food systems in African countries? This was among the questions considered at the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Pre-Summit in late July. The summit, the first of its kind in this century, …

BFAP Brief on South Africa’s Food Inflation for June 2021

This report gives an overview of food inflation dynamics and its associated causes for June 2021. Inflation on food and non-alcoholic beverages for June 2021 was recorded at 6.7%. According to the FAO world food price index, global food prices recorded for June decreased for the first time in 12 months. This was driven by a reduction in cereal and …

South Africa: Rice and wheat price volatility surges due to pandemic

By Lindi Botha. April 8, 2020. Originally published in the farmer’s weekly. Countries rallying to ensure local food supply are restricting exports amid uncertainty over how long the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global pandemic will last and continue to affect trade. Rice and wheat were the latest crops to see export restrictions, with Vietnam, Russia and Kazakhstan limiting trade in the …

South African agriculture, with certain exceptions, faces slow growth in coming years

By: Rebecca Campbell. August 14, 2019. Originally published in the Creamer’s Media. The Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP), a nonprofit organisation, has warned that it expects the gross value of South Africa’s agricultural production this year to be similar, in real terms, to that of 2015. It stated this in its’ BFAP Baseline Agricultural Outlook 2019-2028′ report, which …

South Africa: Soya Levy Expected to Boost Yield and Quality

By Lindi Botha. March 20, 2019. This story was originally posted in farmer’s weekly. The soya industry is expected to receive a boost of R1 billion per year from the recently imposed Breeding and Technology Levy (BTL). The levy will be used to fund research into improving seed cultivars to ensure increased yield and quality, and South Africa’s competitiveness in …

South Africa: Maize crop forecast not as dire as it seems – economist

By Gerhard Uys. January 11, 2019. This story was originally posted in farmer’s weekly. Many factors influence the current forecasts for the South Africa maize crop and maize prices, and the current drought conditions, in especially North West and some parts of the Free State, should not be compared to the conditions and prices experienced in 2015/2016, according to Wilbie …

Western Cape agriculture set to lose billions

By Jeandre van der Walt. 1 March 2018. This story was originally posted in Farmer’s Weekly. The Western Cape’s agricultural sector is set to lose an estimated R5,9 billion in the 2017/2018 season due to prevailing drought conditions across the province. This is according to a recent policy brief report by the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) in collaboration …

African Farming Must Plot Its Own Course

By Wandile Sihlobo, 01 FEBRUARY 2018. This aritcle was orignally posted on BusinessDay. Last week, I came across an interesting article by US agricultural economist Jayson Lusk, highlighting the disruptive trends in food and agriculture. Lusk identified six key trends on the horizon, the two most notable being blockchain the technology that facilitates bitcoin trades and could be applied to …