Maize harvest beats expectations

Cape Town - South African maize farmers have done their bit in the past production season, bringing in a harvest even greater than the National Yield Prediction Committee had forecast.

In its final estimate for the 2008/09 production season the committee adjusted the anticipated size of the commercial maize harvest 0.5% upwards to 11.741 m tons.

This harvest was achieved on 2.428 m hectares, producing an average yield of 4.84 tons per hectare.

The estimate for white maize was left unchanged compared with the previous estimate of 6.771 m tons. The estimated yellow maize yield was adjusted up by 1.16% to a total of 4.970m tons.

"Based on the real yields from farms during the last few months, and taking into account possible retentions on farms, it appears that the harvest prediction committee had slightly underestimated the amount of yellow maize for the current production season," reads a statement from the committee.

"Based on available information the total maize harvest could therefore be about 12 m tons."

Halfway through the harvest season there were farmers who expressed doubt of the committee's estimates, claiming that no maize would be available at silos in some areas.

The area planted by subsistence farmers is estimated at 468 683 hectares of maize, almost 6% less than last year.

Favourable production conditions have however led to the sector being expected to produce a harvest of 516  633  tons, 11.3% better than the season before.

The average yield of subsistence farmers amounts to 1.1  tons per hectare.

With the exception of peanuts, sorghum and soya beans, the Harvest Yield Prediction Committee left the yield estimates of the other summer grain crops unchanged.

The anticipated peanut crop is 99 135  tons, 3.2% more than expected earlier.

The sorghum harvest has been adjusted upwards by 2.3% to 271  250  tons, and soya beans by 0.53% to 237 750 tons.

As for winter cereal crops, the Harvest Yield Prediction Committee adjusted the surface coverage estimate for wheat 0.2% upwards to a total of 657  500 hectares.

About 48% of the wheat was planted in the Western Cape, 36% in the Free State and 7% in the Northern Cape.

The expectation is that this year's wheat harvest will eventually amount to 2.011m tons.

This is 1% more than last year's harvest should have been, with an expected average yield of 3.06 tons per hectare.

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