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When agriculture sneezes, the whole economy catches a cold, the saying goes. We saw clear proof of this in 2018, when South Africa experienced a technical recession after the country’s GDP declined during each of the first two quarters of the year due to a massive drop in agricultural output.

Last year, the UN General Assembly proclaimed the Decade of Family Farming for the period from 2019 to 2028. The purpose of this initiative is to provide a framework for countries to develop public policies and investments to support family farming.

South Africa ended the year with some good news when fuel prices, which had soared to record highs in November, came down sharply in December, and Statistics South Africa announced that positive performance in the agriculture sector in the third quarter (Q3) of 2018 had helped lift the economy out of a technical recession.

At the end of November, the Twitter feed of South Africans interested in local politics was briefly overrun by the fracas between EFF and DA members of Parliament over DA chief whip John Steenhuisen’s lack of university qualifications.

South Africa is not an easy place to farm. Even if you ignore the threat posed by radical land reform, most farmers in this country still have to contend with relatively poor-quality soils, erratic rainfall that leads to frequent droughts, tough competition from countries that have better production conditions and state support, and the devastating impact of crime on their businesses and families.

If you have been involved in the farming sector in South Africa for the past decade, you have also probably heard the rumour that state departments are embroiled in a sinister plot to make land reform projects fail on purpose.

The high cost of wages for workers in the public service is one of the major uncomfortable truths that Finance Minister Tito Mboweni will have to grapple with as he prepares to present the National Budget next year, which will hopefully clearly outline how the country will escape from the trap of virtually non-existent economic growth.

Let’s be honest, living in South Africa can be really depressing, despite our many sunny days, beautiful scenery and generally long-suffering disposition.

South Africa’s latest minister of finance, Tito Mboweni, will have the unenviable task of trying to find at least some good news to share with financially exhausted South Africans when he delivers the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement in Parliament on 24 October.

Dan Kriek, the president of Agri SA, has had to weather some harsh criticism this year from within his own organisation, as well as from outside.

The two-day Presidential Jobs Summit is underway in Johannesburg to find answers to South Africa’s overwhelming unemployment crisis.

During the early years of the current decade, encouraging progress was made in reducing the number of people across the world who suffer from hunger, but the gains made have mostly been wiped out over the past three years.