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Improved soil moisture in eastern regions of South Africa will boost 2021/22 summer crop plantings

Improved soil moisture in eastern regions of South Africa will boost 2021/22 summer crop plantings

South Africa's summer crop planting season is underway in the eastern and central regions. The rainfall and soil moisture will be crucial from now until February 2022, when the crop pollinates. A recent report from World Weather Inc shows that soil moisture has improved noticeably in the eastern regions of the country following rainfall of the past few weeks (see Exhibit 1). Importantly, this builds on already good soil moisture levels from the rainy 2020/21 summer season. These favourable soil moisture levels provide conducive conditions for planting, germination of seeds and after that, growth of the crop. More so, as the near-term weather prospects also show the likelihood of widespread rains between this week and the first week of November.


All this, however, is unsurprising. We are in a La Niña event period, which means that the chances of above-normal rainfall in Southern Africa have increased. In its recent report on 12 October 2021, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology indicated that "the chance of La Niña forming in the coming months has increased to around 70%. This is roughly three times the normal likelihood of an event forming in any year."2 Importantly, these favourable weather prospects are not only a reality of field crops which we typically devote much time to but the entire agricultural sector.

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