WANDILE SIHLOBO: Why rain-hit crop planting data no cause for alarm
Preliminary data confirms fears of lower planting due to excessive rains but longer-term picture tells a sunnier story
27 January 2022 - 19:28
The excessive rains since the start of SA’s 2021/22 summer crop production season in October raised concerns that farmers might not have been able to till the initially planned area of 4.34-million hectares (3% higher than the 2020/2021 production season).
The preliminary plantings data released on Thursday afternoon by the government’s crop estimates committee confirmed these fears. Still, the actual plantings are a relief as many analysts, ourselves included, had expected a much smaller area. ..
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