Wandile Sihlobo, Agbiz economist
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.
Each year I drive from Gauteng to the Eastern Cape, making frequent stops along the way to observe farming land and activities on various fields. This year I repeated a similar exercise, but the drive was not as enjoyable as it had been in the years before 2015.
Back then, frequent droughts were not the norm in South Africa, and a December drive across the country this time of the year would be an opportunity to gaze through lush maize and soybeans fields, and also livestock and grazing veld.
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