NEW PRODUCTION SEASON
WANDILE SIHLOBO: Farmers need a smart strategy for profit
‘White maize prices experienced the biggest decline of all grains and could remain under pressure due to weak demand’
While the discussion in SA’s agricultural sector has been dominated by the record grain harvest, it has been steadily shifting towards weather-related issues and production strategies. The 2017-18 production season poses challenges as farmers will have to decide the best mix of crops and they will need to apply better price risk management strategies given the low prices of most agricultural commodities. Farmers in the eastern regions of the country will start preparing soils for the 2017-18 production season as early as the end of September. This is because the optimal planting window for crops such as yellow maize opens on about October 15 and closes on about November 15. The optimal planting window in the western regions, which produce white maize, opens about November 15 and closes in the middle of December. Unlike other seasons where farmers focus on technical production strategies and input prices, the coming production season will require careful planning due to two major cha...
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