AFRICA’S demand for South African agricultural products will likely increase in the 2023/24 marketing year, says Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz).
The 2023/24 marketing year corresponded with the 2022/23 production season. In the previous season, countries such as Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Tanzania had decent supplies of grains and other foodstuffs on the back of a reasonably good harvest.
“Reports from FEWS NET suggest that dry and hot weather conditions in the earlier part of the 2022/23 production season negatively impacted crops in southern Angola, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and northern and eastern Madagascar. Moreover, there are growing concerns that higher fertiliser prices have led to lower usage by farmers in these countries, which would ultimately undermine the yields,” Sihlobo said.
He said this meant that South…
