AgroPages-South Africa forecast summer crops area up 22% in 2017-Agricultural news

Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of South Africa’s Crop Estimates Committee has issued its latest forecast for summer crops area planted and production in the country in 2017.

Summer crops – area planted and third production forecast: 2017

Crop	Area planted 2017 (ha)	Area planted 2016 (ha)	change%	3th forecast production 2017 (tons)	Final production 2016 (tons)	change%
Maize	2,628,600	1,946,750	+35.0	14,535,700	7,778,500	+86.9
Sunflower seed	635,750	718,500	-11.5	853,470	755,000	+13.0
Soybeans	573,950	502,800	+14.2	1,233,130	742,000	+66.2
Groundnuts	56,000	22,600	+147.8	86,600	17,680	+389.8
Sorghum	42,350	48,500	-12.7	153,480	70,500	+117.7
Dry beans	45,050	34,400	+31.0	67,150	35,445	+89.4
Total	3,981,700	3,273,550	+21.6	16,929,530	9,399,125	+80.1
Note: Estimate is for calendar year, e.g. production season 2016/17 = 2017

Commercial maize

The size of the expected commercial maize crop has been set at 14.536 million tons, which is 1.48% or 212,200 tons more than the previous forecast of 14.324 million tons. The area estimate for maize is 2.629 million ha, while the expected yield is 5.53 t/ha – the highest yield ever.

The estimated maize crop is 87% bigger than the 2016 crop, which was the smallest crop since 2007. The three main maize producing areas, namely the Free State, Mpumalanga and North West provinces are expected to produce 82% of the 2017 crop.

The area estimate for white maize is 1.643 million ha and for yellow maize the area estimate is 985,500 ha.

The production forecast of white maize is 8.618 million tons, which is 1.24% or 105,200 tons more than the 8.513 million tons of the previous forecast. The yield for white maize is 5.25 t/ha. In the case of yellow maize the production forecast is 5.917 million tons, which is 1.84% or 107,000 tons more than the 5.810 million tons of the previous forecast. The yield for yellow maize is 6.00 t/ha.

The yield per ha for the Mpumalanga province was based on scientific and objective results provided by the National Crop Statistics Consortium (NCSC), which is led by the ARC. Please note that the objective results for the Free State and North West provinces will be available in May 2017.

Sunflower seed

The production forecast for sunflower seed is 853,470 tons, which is 4.75% or 42,590 tons less than the 896,060 tons of the previous forecast. The area estimate for sunflower seed is 635,750 ha, while the expected yield is 1.34 t/ha.

Other crops

The production forecast for soybeans is 1.233 million tons, which is 6.08% or 70,705 tons more than the 1.162 million tons of the previous forecast. It is the largest soybean crop produced in the history of SA. The estimated area planted to soybeans is 573,950 ha and the expected yield is 2.15 t/ha.

The expected groundnut crop remained unchanged at 86,600 tons. The area estimate is 56,000 ha and the expected yield is 1.55 t/ha.

The production forecast for sorghum also remained unchanged at 153,480 tons, whilst the area estimate for sorghum is 42,350 ha. The expected yield is 3.62 t/ha.

In the case of dry beans, the production forecast is 67,150 tons, which is 2.87% or 1,875 tons more than the 65,275 tons of the previous forecast. The area estimate of dry beans is 45,050 ha, with an expected yield of 1.49 t/ha.