In an effort to make crop estimates more reliable, the Maize Trust of South Africa has commissioned SiQ, a company specialising in field surveying, agricultural statistics and software development, to conduct a census of planted crops this season.
“It is important to realise this is not a new method for estimating crops. It is rather a benchmark for people in the industry to check how reliable other methods of crop estimating are,” said SiQ director Eugene du Preez. Du Preez explained that satellite imagery has been used to plot out agricultural land.
A computer programme inserts crop field boundaries and then calculates the number of hectares of planted land. SiQ now plans to use light aircraft to fly low over each field in Gauteng to determine which crops have been planted. T he company aims to have all the data captured by 20 April. This will then be compared with other figures released to determine how reliable methods such as sampling are for estimating the amount of land planted to various crops.
“Crop Estimates Committee receives all kinds of data from different people and organisations. They are never really sure how accurate this information is, so the census figures will enable them to have a clearer idea of which figures are trustworthy,” Du said. Some key role-players have suggested a census conducted in the Free State would be more valuable. But according to Jannie de Villiers of the Maize Trust, the costs would be too high. – Gwenda van Zyl
