May 27, 2003

Irrigated Corn Increases in South Africa

USDA in its May 12 official release estimated South Africa’s 2002/03 corn production at 9.2 million tons on 3.5 million hectares, indicating that the 2002/03 El Niño did not reduce corn production and yields as severely as the 1997/98 El Niño event when 7.7 million tons of corn was produced on 3.5 million hectares. Cumulative rainfall was below normal for both the 1997/98 and 2002/03 El Niño events, and 2002/03 cumulative rainfall in the eastern portion of the Maize Triangle was even lower than 1997/98 cumulative rainfall (El Niño comparison).  However, record irrigated corn area was planted this year which has helped to offset dry land production losses caused by reduced seasonal rainfall from this season’s El Niño.

Both irrigated corn area and yields have increased in South Africa when comparing the 1997/98 and 2002/03 El Niño events.  Irrigated corn area expanded from approximately 120,000 hectares in 1997 to 220,000 this year.  Local reports indicate that irrigated corn yields have also increased from 6 tons/ha in 1997 to approximately 9-11 tons/ha, currently due to higher-yielding seeds and more efficient irrigation practices. The combination of improved irrigated yields and increased irrigated corn area translates to approximately 2 million tons of corn produced this year by irrigation, or over 20 percent of total production.  In contrast, irrigated corn production in 1997/98 was approximately 720,000 tons on 120,000 hectares, or accounting for less than 10 percent of total production.

Irrigated corn area in South Africa has increased as manufacturers report increased sales of irrigation equipment such as center pivot systems. It also appears high corn prices during November 2002 may have motivated potato farmers and other irrigators to switch crops and plant more corn than usual this year.  For example, separate reports from South Africa’s National Department of Agriculture (NDA) and Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) indicate greater amounts of corn were irrigated this year in comparison to last year.  NDA reported that white corn area under irrigation for 2001/02 was approximately 3.5 percent of total white corn area and yellow corn area under irrigation was approximately 10 percent of total yellow corn area.  For the 2002/03 season, CEC recently reported in March that white corn area under irrigation increased to approximately 5 percent and yellow corn under irrigation increased to approximately 11 percent.  As illustrated in Table 1, these estimates translate to irrigated corn area increasing by approximately 34,000 hectares from last year to this year. 

 Table 1. Estimated irrigated area and production by NDA and CEC

* Assumed irrigated yield of 9 tons/ha

South Africa has a long history of developing their irrigation resources as unreliable rainfall necessitates irrigation of numerous crops.  Private, cooperative, and government irrigation schemes range from small individual diversions and groundwater extraction, to large flood diversion schemes with public storage.  From the favorable corn production totals forecasted this year, it appears that a record irrigated corn area planted during an El Niño year served as an effective drought mitigation measure to offset national losses in dry land farming.

For more information, contact Curt Reynolds
with the Production Estimates and Crop Assessment Division, at Curt.Reynolds@usda.gov or (202) 690-0134.