Wandile Sihlobo is the Chief Economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz) and the author of three books, “The Uncomfortable Truth About South Africa’s Agriculture (2025)”, “A Country of Two Agricultures: The Disparities, The Challenges, The Solutions (2023)” and “Finding Common Ground: Land, Equity and Agriculture (2020)“.
He is a Senior Lecturer Extraordinary at the Department of Agricultural Economics at Stellenbosch University.
Sihlobo is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the Wits School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand, and a Research Associate at the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) at Rhodes University.
Sihlobo was appointed as a member of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Presidential Economic Advisory Council in 2019 (and re-appointed in 2022), having served on the Presidential Expert Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture from 2018.
He is also a member of the Council of Statistics of South Africa (Stats SA) and a Commissioner at the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC).
Sihlobo is a columnist for Business Day, The Herald and Farmers Weekly magazine.
His weekly podcast, “Agricultural Market Viewpoint with Wandile Sihlobo“, is available on all podcast platforms.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Fort Hare and a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from Stellenbosch University.
Soil Moisture Across South Africa
The recent rains have been widespread across South Africa, benefiting agricultural activity.
Cherries in South Africa
Many South Africans enjoyed their cherries in recent months. In fact, during the December 2025 holidays, I noticed many people were excited about the availability of cherries in their local stores and their reasonable prices. We will likely continue to see more cherries in our stores when they are in season in the coming years.
Easing fuel prices will benefit the SA agricultural sector
We will get a reprieve on fuel prices from today, January 7, 2026. The diesel price...
What to Make of 2025 in South Africa’s Agriculture, and Outlook for 2026?
2025 was a generally good year for South Africa’s agriculture and the broader Southern Africa farming sector. We emerged from a drought and heatwave in 2024 and saw excellent harvests of crops, fruits, and vegetables.
Agricultural observations from driving across parts Of Kwazulu-Natal
On December 28, 2025, we drove across the various regions of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), which offered an opportunity to view the agricultural conditions from a distance. Like most regions of South Africa, the vegetation and grazing veld look green and lush. This helps the livestock industry, and KZN is one of South Africa’s central dairy-producing provinces, with also a substantial number of livestock among subsistence farmers.
A reason for optimism in the mostly rainy weather in South Africa
This rainy weather, while an inconvenience at times in social activities, continues to help us in agriculture. The grazing veld is improving nicely across the country. Those in fruit and vegetable farming also don’t have to irrigate as much as on generally warmer days.
Wandile Sihlobo is the Chief Economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz) and the author of three books, “The Uncomfortable Truth About South Africa’s Agriculture (2025)”, “A Country of Two Agricultures: The Disparities, The Challenges, The Solutions (2023)” and “Finding Common Ground: Land, Equity and Agriculture (2020)“.
He is a Senior Lecturer Extraordinary at the Department of Agricultural Economics at Stellenbosch University.
Sihlobo is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the Wits School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand, and a Research Associate at the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) at Rhodes University.
Sihlobo was appointed as a member of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Presidential Economic Advisory Council in 2019 (and re-appointed in 2022), having served on the Presidential Expert Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture from 2018.
He is also a member of the Council of Statistics of South Africa (Stats SA) and a Commissioner at the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC).
Sihlobo is a columnist for Business Day, The Herald and Farmers Weekly magazine.
His weekly podcast, “Agricultural Market Viewpoint with Wandile Sihlobo“, is available on all podcast platforms.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Fort Hare and a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from Stellenbosch University.