The estimated planting area for maize has been revised to 2,629-million hectares, the Department of Agriculture's Crop Estimates Committee said on Tuesday.
It said this was 35.03% or 681,850ha more than the 1,947-million hectares planted for the previous season and also 3.11% or 79,400ha more than the preliminary area estimate of 2,549-million hectares announced in January.
The expected commercial maize crop was 13,918-million tonnes, which was 78.93% or 6,140-million tonnes more than the 7,778-million tons of the 2016 season, a drought year.
The production forecast of white maize is 8,313-million tonnes, which was 143.89% or 4,904-million tonnes more than the 3,408-million tonnes of last season. The average yield for white maize was 5,06 tonnes per hectare, the committee said. In the case of yellow maize, the production forecast was 5,605-million tonnes, which was 28.27% or 1,235-million tonnes more than the 4,370-million tonnes of last season. The yield for yellow maize was 5.69 tonnes per hectare, the committee said.
Source: BDpro