With South Africa’s 2025-26 starting already, we will continue to pay close attention to the weather outlook and soil moisture. This is key for planting and crop development, and the general agricultural season.
We are coming from a winter season, and the soil moisture, to some extent, mirrors this; it is relatively low. We will likely see some improvement after the first summer rains. Still, the plantings are underway in the eastern regions of the country.
I recently took a road trip from Gauteng to the Eastern Cape, through KwaZulu-Natal, which allowed for some field work assessment. I was happy with what I observed, as the planting has generally started in several areas.
We are in another season of La Niña rains, which means that we are likely to receive above-normal rainfall in the coming months. This is supportive of agricultural activity.
Therefore, when one sees a map of low soil moisture for now, as the one in this letter, there is no need to worry; this is a result of the winter season. We are heading to a rainy summer, and the farmers are busy in the fields, tilling the land for the 2025-26 season, which promises to be favourable. The farmers in the eastern regions will immediately benefit from better soil moisture conditions. The rest of the country will get favourable showers soon.
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