October 24, 2008
South Africa to cut 2008-09 corn area to 8.5 percent to 2.56 million hectares
South Africa intends to plant 2.562 million hectares of corn in the 2008-09 season, below last season's acreage of 2.8 million hectares as the dry weather and lower prices put farmers off, a survey by the Crop Estimates Committee showed Thursday (October 23).
White corn is expected to be planted on 1.6 million hectares and the area for yellow corn is expected to be 962,000 hectares.
The CEC said that farmers' intentions to plant have been influenced by among other factors the cost of financing, credit availability and high input costs, as well the amount of rainfall.
However, a CEC member said there is still a possibility that the planting area could be increased.
