South African farmers intend to plant 25 percent more hectares of maize this season in the hope that decent rainfall will ease the hardship caused by last year's scorching drought, a Reuters' poll showed on Monday. South Africa's Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) is expected to say farmers plan to sow 2.44 hectares with maize, up from the 1.947 million hectares planted last year, according to an average estimate of five trading houses surveyed by Reuters.
The range was 2.14 million to 2.7 million hectares. The CEC will give its first forecast on intentions to plant on Wednesday for the 2016/17 maize growing season, which has already started on the eastern edge of the maize belt. "We believe this year the farmers will get enough rain to plant 2.7 million hectares," said one trader.
An El Nino weather pattern, which ended in May, brought severe drought with blistering temperatures last season. The CEC has pegged last season's harvest at 7.5 million tonnes, 25 percent smaller than the 9.95 million tonnes reaped the previous year but higher than initial expectations when the drought was really biting. Another poor maize harvest would have serious implications for Africa's most industrialised economy after white maize, the staple food, doubled in price last year, fuelling inflation.
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