South Africa’s Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) says maize production could be down by 20 percent compared to last year.
This is primarily due to drought associated with the El Niño weather trend.
Chief Economist Wandile Sihlobo says farmers this year planted more than they did the previous season which shows a bit of optimism.
He says due to the lack of rainfall the country is at risk.
Sihlobo says, “It is from the beginning of February where we did not receive any of the rainfall. At the time, we needed rain badly in farming in South Africa because that’s where the crop goes to pollination or flowering, which is where all the grain formation happens.”
“So since then there hasn’t been any rain, which is why the figures that were released yesterday they showed that we may be down by roughly 20% if you were to compare us to the previous season, with, of course, a harvest of around about 13.2 million tonnes.”
VIDEO: North West crop farmers struggle amidst drought and heatwave conditions:
Reporting by Tshimangadzo Ntsumbedzeni.
