Farm and Production Analytics – BFAP

Production Potential for Soybeans and Maize in the Eastern Cape

Kandas_BFAP — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 18:49:22 +0000

The Eastern Cape was mentioned in the National Development Plan as a region “with untapped potential” however, there are a number of factors that limit this potential. These include physical characteristics (soil depth and quality (pH, soil nutrients), topology and degradation) as well as land use/competition dynamics.

It was found, based on the area and yield assumptions detailed in the report, that the potential maize production can be estimated as 578 040 tonnes, off a total area of 212 000 hectares. That is a three-fold increase from the current production of 175 000 tonnes.

The potential soybean production is estimated as at least 9 720 tonnes (37% increase from current average soybean production) off a total area of 4 560 hectares, assuming the current 8% contribution to the crop mix. Soybean area could increase to a total of 56 690 hectares depending on the soybeans share of the total crop mix.

Download here to read the full article.

South African adoption rate of GM maize

Dalene — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 10:44:26 +0000

In this report, BFAP assesses the adoption trends of GM maize seed in South Africa. The main objective of this ongoing Maize Trust supported initiative is to estimate the most recent maize production season’s GM maize planting areas and GM trait adoption trends, as seed sales figures become available, in order to expand the historic database on GM maize plantings in South Africa.

Download here to read the report.

Soybean yield loss calculator 2022

Jaco — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 20:06:29 +0000

BFAP was appointed by the Oilseeds Advisory Committee (OAC) to repeat the soybean calculator app roll out first developed in 2021. The team visited a dedicated study group of farmers who collaborated in measuring Soybean Yield losses during the 2022 harvesting season, with special focus on higher moisture content harvesting.

Download the report summarising outcomes here

Chicken or beef: evaluating factors driving meat price inflation in South Africa

Jaco — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 19:43:16 +0000

Meat price increases were repeatedly highlighted in the domestic food inflation statistics in 2022. In this brief, Dr. Tracy Davids explores the direct and indirect drivers of this phenomenon and the prospects for normalisation in future.

Download here to read the full brief.

Food Inflation Brief – September 2022

Jaco — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 07:02:00 +0000

Year-on-year inflation on Food and Non-alcoholic beverages gained significant further momentum in September 2022, with a 0.5% increase from August 2022. As in previous months, food inflation was mainly driven by price increases in grain-based foods followed by meat.

Download here to read the full brief.

Maize Trade Policies in Zambia: Options for Growth

Jaco — Wed, 19 Oct 2022 16:58:44 +0000

The Government of the Republic of Zambia has committed to transforming the economy to support economic growth and facilitate job creation. Central to the transformation agenda is a commitment to open trade regime for agricultural exports and imports.

This collaboration between researchers from the World Bank, BFAP and IAPRI demonstrates and quantifies Zambia’s potential gains from a full commitment to open trade over the coming decade in the event that yield volatility is similar to that experienced over the past decade. The current uncertainty facing global food markets could further increase the cost of such domestic policy distortions, whereas commitment to free trade has immense potential to accelerate growth in the sector.

Click here to access the publication.

Modelling poultry markets in Eastern and Southern Africa

Dalene — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 13:22:29 +0000

In per capita terms, poultry consumption in Sub Saharan Africa remains low. Expectations are that poultry will be at the forefront as income grows to enable greater dietary diversity. To understand the possible extent of growth, as well as the possibilities to expand domestic production to supply it, this report considers demand preferences for poultry products in the region, before providing an overview of the current structure and relative competitiveness of poultry value chains in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa, as well as a quantitative modelling framework which integrates chicken and feed sectors and can be used to support strategic decision making in the region.

Read or download the full report here.

Canola yield loss calculator app

Dalene — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 14:41:24 +0000

BFAP was appointed by the Oilseeds Advisory Committee (OAC) to develop a user-friendly App Customisation for a dedicated group of farmers and app-users who would use it to record Canola Yield Losses during the 2020 harvesting season. The app was designed to feed geo-referenced data directly into a database for effective reporting and sharing.

The methodology to measure Canola Yield Losses was developed by SOILL and the PNS during the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

Download the report summarising outcomes here

Soybean Yield Loss Calculator App

Dalene — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 13:36:35 +0000

BFAP was appointed by the Oilseeds Advisory Committee (OAC) to develop a user-friendly App Customisation and visited a dedicated study group of farmers who collaborated in measuring Soybean Yield losses during the 2021 harvesting season. The app was designed to feed geo-referenced data directly into a database for effective reporting and sharing.

Download the report summarising outcomes here

Reflections on Mechanization Trends in Africa

Dalene — Wed, 02 Oct 2019 12:29:08 +0000

This piece documents discussions on recent trends on mechanization in Africa held at a workshop session on agro-industrial transformation as a driver for employment generation, food security and rural development in Africa which took place at the 6^th African Conference of Agricultural Economists in Abuja, Nigeria in September 2019.