SA farmers expected to harvest 15.408m tonnes of maize in 2020

Maize farmers will likely harvest 15.408 million tonnes of maize in 2020, slightly lower than last month’s estimate after slow pace of service deliveries effected quality of the crop, the government’s Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) said on Thursday.

Giving its final production forecast for the 2020 crop, the CEC estimated that harvest would be 36.7% higher compared with 11.275 million tonnes harvested in the 2018/2019 when yields were hurt by dry weather conditions.

In October, the CEC pegged this year’s crop at 15.420 million tonnes.

The crop is forecast to consist of 6.741 million tonnes of yellow maize, used mainly in animal feed, and 8.666 million tonnes of white maize, used for human consumption.