March 31, 2004

South Africa: Crop Tour Summary

USDA/FAS assessed crop conditions within the Maize Triangle during the last week of February, 2004.  Below are crop condition pictures from the trip.  

Northern Gauteng, Northwest, and Mpumalanga Provinces

Northwest and Western Free State Provinces

Eastern Free State Province 

Soweto

The crop tour route is shown below.  The first image is the crop tour route overlaid on  a crop density map derived from Landsat imagery.  The second image is the crop tour route over a relative yield model from the FEWS project. The crop tour confirmed that the relative yield model closely reflected the crop conditions on the ground.

Figure 1. Crop Tour Route Over a Crop Density Map (derived from Landsat Imagery) 

Figure 2.  Crop Tour Route Over a Relative Yield Map

For more information, contact Curt Reynolds
with the Production Estimates and Crop Assessment Division, at Curt.Reynolds@fas.usda.gov or (202) 690-0134.