South Africa remains gripped by crop-threatening drought despite the torrential rains that drenched parts of the country last week, the water affairs department said on Monday.
"As far as we are concerned we are still in a drought, there is not enough water in storage to guarantee the security that we would normally aim for," said Mike Muller, director-general of the department of water affairs and forestry.
"The rain has seen some pick-up in river flow and if that continues we should see some improvement in dam levels," he told Reuters.
"But to date all that has happened is that the levels have not dropped as fast as they had previously." An unusually dry summer has hit key South African crops, pushing up prices for food staples like maize and putting upward pressure on overall inflation.
South Africa put the maize area at its lowest since the 1940s last week, saying farmers had sown 2.56 million hectares.
The figure is well down on the 3.18 million hectares grown last year.
Many farmers, particularly in eastern portions of the maize triangle, have planted less maize and at a later date than usual because of the drought.
Muller said concerns remained greatest in northern Limpopo province and in eastern Mpumalanga province.
"We are very concerned about the availability of water for both farmers and for human consumption (in Limpopo and Mpumalanga)."
"We are having a green drought. there's enough to grow current crops in many areas but not enough water in reserve, either underground or in dams," he said.
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