We are beginning to see the benefits of the recent rains through improvements in soil moisture across the summer crop-growing regions of South Africa.
The rains from the last week of October to the first week of this month, although patchy, have brought improvement to the North West, Gauteng, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, southern Mpumalanga, and the northern regions of the Eastern Cape. These are generally agricultural regions, and the improvement in soil moisture will support crop germination in the early-planted regions, as well as in the areas that are yet to be tilled.
The dryness in parts of the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, and Limpopo is not a significant worry. We remain convinced that the country will receive favourable rainfall through the summer season. While we generally highlight summer grains and oilseeds in some of our comments, the rains are beneficial to all agricultural activity.
We highlight the summer grains and oilseeds, as they are currently at the planting stage. South African farmers intend to plan 4.5 million hectares of land for the 2025-26 production season, a 1% increase from the previous season.
Suppose the weather conditions remain favourable, as we are experiencing during the La Niña phenomenon. In that case, we can expect another decent performance of South Africa’s farming economy in 2026, with continued moderation of food prices.
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