SOUTH African farmers’ planted less land with corn this season after record rains caused waterlogged fields.
Growers in South Africa, the continent’s biggest producer of the grain, planted about 2.61 million hectares (6.45 million acres) of land this season, a 5.3% decline compared with the previous year, Lusani Ndou, a senior statistician at the Pretoria-based Crop Estimates Committee, said by phone Thursday.
That’s after many areas in six of South Africa’s nine provinces, including those in the corn belt, experienced the most rainfall on record in December since tracking by district began in 1921.
South Africa is this year experiencing the La Nina weather phenomenon which usually causes above normal rainfall in the country and its neighbours.
At about 1.57 million hectares, the area under white corn, a staple food, is 6.87% smaller than a year earlier. The land allocated to yellow corn, generally used for animal feed, is seen
You’ve reached your free article limit
Subscribe to enjoy unlimited access to trusted journalism. Cancel anytime.
Subscribe nowNeed help? molokom@insidepolitic.co.za
