AGRICULTURE is less than 3% of the economy, making it easy to downplay its importance. But the worst drought since the early 1990s has put farming back on the front pages. And it has highlighted the short-and long-term policy issues affecting the sector.It’s worth putting the drought in macroeconomic context though, first in that it affects only some crops, but not others, and second in the sense that SA’s food price woes this year aren’t just about the drought.Agriculture is a schizophrenic sort of sector, and the drought mainly affects the summer crops on the nonirrigated side of the divide — maize and sugar. It potentially affects meat too, but good rains in the next couple of weeks could still save grazing lands, and livestock.For maize, however, it is too late. The planting season has come and gone and, although official crop estimates are due only next Wednesday, the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) at the University of Pretoria expects a total maize crop of just...
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