Wandile Sihlobo
Wandile Sihlobo (16 October 1990) is a South African agricultural economist and government’s agricultural and rural development advisor. He currently serves as the Chief Economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz) and Visiting Research Fellow at Wits School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand.
Sihlobo was born on 16 October 1990 in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Sihlobo published his first book “Finding Common Ground: Land, Equity, and Agriculture” in April 2020. Sihlobo serves as a member of South Africa’s Presidential Economic Advisory Council, appointed in this position in 2019, after serving as a member of the President’s Panel of Experts on Land Reform and Agriculture between 2018 and 2019.
Sihlobo is also Commissioner at the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC) and a Council Member of Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). Wandile received 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. His dissertation was titled “An Evaluation of Competitiveness of South African Maize Exports”.
Sihlobo writes a weekly agricultural economy column for Business Day newspaper.
In 2019, Sihlobo was criticized by academics for favoring commercial agriculture practices in South Africa’s land reform, and underplayed smallholder farming potential. In 2018, Agricultural Writers SA named Wandile Sihlobo an Agriculturalist of the Year, and the newspaper, Mail & Guardian, had him on its Top 200 Young South Africans list for 2019.
The Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA) awarded Sihlobo a prize for a second-best contributed research paper in its 2014 academic conference. The paper was co-authored with Tinashe Kapuya and focused on the identification of potential markets for South African maize export.
Sihlobo was born on 16 October 1990 in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Sihlobo published his first book “Finding Common Ground: Land, Equity, and Agriculture” in April 2020. Sihlobo serves as a member of South Africa’s Presidential Economic Advisory Council, appointed in this position in 2019, after serving as a member of the President’s Panel of Experts on Land Reform and Agriculture between 2018 and 2019.
Sihlobo is also Commissioner at the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC) and a Council Member of Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). Wandile received 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. His dissertation was titled “An Evaluation of Competitiveness of South African Maize Exports”.
Sihlobo writes a weekly agricultural economy column for Business Day newspaper.
In 2019, Sihlobo was criticized by academics for favoring commercial agriculture practices in South Africa’s land reform, and underplayed smallholder farming potential. In 2018, Agricultural Writers SA named Wandile Sihlobo an Agriculturalist of the Year, and the newspaper, Mail & Guardian, had him on its Top 200 Young South Africans list for 2019.
The Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA) awarded Sihlobo a prize for a second-best contributed research paper in its 2014 academic conference. The paper was co-authored with Tinashe Kapuya and focused on the identification of potential markets for South African maize export.
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