JOHANNESBURG: South African maize farmers are expected to harvest 6% more of the staple crop in the 2020/2021 season compared with the previous season after favourable weather boosted yields, the government’s Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) said on Tuesday.

The CEC, giving its fifth production forecast for the 2020/2021 summer crops, pegged the 2021 maize harvest at 16.233 million tonnes up from the 15.300 million tonnes harvested last season.

With the harvest season at the halfway mark, the 2020/2021 maize crop is expected to be the second largest harvest on record.

The CEC’s latest estimate is slightly higher than the May forecast of 16.180 million tonnes.