Cape Town - After concerns that floods during the agricultural season would severely damage crops, Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza said South Africa’s food security remained protected as this season’s plantings showed success, despite the heavy rains.
Didiza said the 2021/22 agricultural season started with concerns about the floods, while farmers in various regions worried they would not complete the usual areas for their produce. However, they pushed through the heavy rains and continued to plant even beyond the usual optimal planting windows.
This perseverance was shown in the department’s estimates which revealed there were 4.21 million hectares of the 2021/22 summer crop planting, 0.4% more than the previous season.
Didiza said this data was comforting, but the weather conditions for the next two months were critical for the ultimate crop yields for the 2021/22 season.
The Western Cape’s apple and pear exports indicated that the sector was recovering well from the drought and contributed to economic recovery and job creation in the province.
Agriculture MEC Ivan Meyer said the horticultural sector was the only sector with a positive real gross income growth of 9% year on year in the third quarter of 2021, which illustrated the massive contribution of the Western Cape to the agricultural industry.
Meyer this was further supported by the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy medium-term projection, which indicated growth in the pome (fleshy fruit) sector would contribute to employment. This was then echoed by the deciduous fruit growers association, Hortgro.
With South Africa’s apple exports valued at R6.6 billion and pear exports valued at R3.1bn in 2020 (which has grown), Department senior agricultural economist Tshepo Morokong said the Western Cape contributed remarkably as the province supplied more than 85% of national apple exports and more than 88% of national pear exports.