A review of A Country of Two Agricultures

Wandile Sihlobo has once again crafted a balanced and influential book that deconstructs the complex realities of the agriculture sector in South Africa

-  Dr Sifiso Ntombela

In his second book, titled A Country of Two Agricultures, Wandile Sihlobo identifies bottlenecks in the agricultural value chains that are sustaining the duality problem in the country. These range from the deteriorating farm and off-farm infrastructure, institutional and market failures, land and finance hunger amongst black farmers, and the biosecurity threats that are compounded by climate change and limited access to technologies.

Very boldly and insightfully, Sihlobo then accounts for the positive contribution of the democratic government on the trade front. He provides concrete evidence of how agriculture has grown and become a globally competitive sector in the past 25 years. He attributes this success to progressive and market-friendly trade policies that have led to the opening of new agricultural export markets, an area in which government continues to prioritise expanding export opportunities for farmers under the leadership of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza.