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Focus
Soybeans
Mini-
Augustus 2018
64
S
outh African soybean production responded positively to
the large investments that were made to construct new
crushing capacity, with the latest production forecast for
soybeans being the largest in the history of South Africa.
The total area cultivated with soybeans has increased significantly
since 2007, due to the increased crushing capacity and crop rotation
advantages of soybeans.
The Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) at the Department of Agri
culture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) estimated the total hectares
of soybeans planted in 2007 at 183 000 ha (CEC: 2 October 2007)
producing 205 000 tons. Ten years later, in 2017, the CEC estimated
the total area planted at 573 950 ha (CEC: 28 September 2017),
which produced 1 316 000 tons of soybeans.
These figures show an increase of almost 400 000 ha over the
ten-year period, while producers have succeeded in more than
doubling the average yield per hectare from 1,12 t/ha to 2,29 t/ha,
as summarised in
Table 1
.
The three main soybean producing provinces, Mpumalanga,
Free State and KwaZulu-Natal (
Table 2
) have followed the national
trend over the past decade and have also experienced increased
soybean cultivation.
A decade of
increasing
soybean
cultivation in South Africa
Fanie Ferreira,
GeoTerraImage and
Petru Fourie,
research co-ordinator and production cost analyst, Grain SA
AREA
PRODUCTION
AVG YIELD
YEAR
HECTARE
TONS
T/HA
2007
183 000
205 000
1,12
2017
573 950
1 316 000
2,29
Increase
390 950
1 111 000
1,17
Table 1: National soybean TEN-YEAR growth statistics.
YEAR
MPUMALANGA
FREE STATE
KWAZULU-NATAL
2007
90 000
45 000
20 500
2017
241 000
240 000
30 500
Increase
151 000
195 000
10 000
Table 2: Provincial soybean ten-year growth statistics.
Table 3: Free State top five soybean districts.
DISTRICT
AREA HA 2017
AREA HA 2007
INCREASE
Harrismith
47 459
15 410
32 049
Bethlehem
30 367
4 965
25 402
Vrede
29 768
13 029
16 739
Frankfort
21 897
6 363
15 534
Reitz
20 505
3 362
17 143
Total
149 996
43 128
106 868
Table 4: Mpumalanga top five soybean districts.
DISTRICT
AREA HA 2017
AREA HA 2007
INCREASE
Standerton
55 009
20 005
35 004
Ermelo
37 530
13 648
23 882
Bethal
30 832
3 731
27 101
Middelburg
28 765
9 656
19 109
Delmas
11 726
8 474
3 252
Total
163 862
55 514
108 348