Tractor sales surged 18.7% year on year in March to 515 units. Total 2016 sales fell 11.3% to 5,855 units, according to the South African Agricultural Machinery Association (Saama). Tractor sales were hurt in 2016 owing to a number of factors: uncertainty about crop yields and exchange rates; if the climate had transitioned from a dry El Nino global cycle to a wet La Nina cycle; land restitution issues, and farmworker shares in farms. Earlier in 2017, the Agricultural Research Council, Plant Protection Research Institute confirmed that fall army worm had been positively identified from samples collected in Limpopo, adding to farmers’ woes. Despite this pest, which seems to have been controlled, the Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) said the maize crop would rise 84% compared with the 2016 crop, in its second estimate in late March. "The better sales in March are a reflection of the current good summer crop prospects. With the maize crop now forecasted at 14.3-million tonnes, this crop ...
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