On April 30, we had essential data on South Africa's agriculture. The Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) released its third production forecast for South Africa's 2024-25 summer crop production season.

There are seven more monthly estimates to come. But on the third estimate, we begin to have some comfort about the accuracy of the data.

At a time when we have been worrying about the excessive rains, there was predictably a lot more attention on these figures. Notably, the CEC slightly increased South Africa's 2024-25 summer crop production estimate by 0.05% from March 2025 to 18.01 million tonnes.

Indeed, this is a mild uptick, but it remains crucial at a time when some worried that we might see a downward revision of the crop due to the excessive rains. This estimate comprises yellow and white maize, sunflower seed, soybeans, groundnuts, sorghum, and dry beans.

In essence, this harvest estimate is 16% higher than the 2023-24 production season, representing a decent recovery from the drought season

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Richard Humphries and Sam Mkokeli produce this podcast. Wandile Sihlobo website