South Africans should not be concerned about the availability of food during the current Covid-19 pandemic. This assurance has been given by the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP), a Pretoria/Tshwane-based nonprofit organisation (created in 2004 to carry out scientifically rigorous and unbiased research relevant to the agricultural sector).
The COVID-19 pandemic is fast changing the way we live our lives, without exception.
South Africa’s farming sector is heavily in debt. As of 2018, the total farm debt was at record R168 billion. About 60% of the debt is with the commercial banks, 29% is with the Land Bank, with the rest spread between agricultural cooperatives, private persons and other institutions.
This week, the global market report is slightly different from what you are used to getting from us. In recent days, the measures enforced by the various national governments have followed one another quickly. Therefore, this time we are giving an overview of the consequences of those measures on global fresh produce trading.
Conditions during autumn tends to be pleasant over the interior of South Africa – especially in the absence of early outbreaks of cold conditions.
The data released this morning by Statistics South Africa shows that the country’s food price inflation accelerated to 4.2% y/y in February 2020, from 3.7% y/y in the previous month.
