By Joubert Swanepoel and Lardus Basson

South Africa’s western sowing areas reached a critical point last season due to drought conditions brought on by the El Niño weather phenomenon.

Unusually high heat units and the absence of rain at crucial times for plant growth resulted in significantly lower than expected maize and soybean yields.

Certain parts of North West received as little as 150 mm to 350 mm of rain from October 2023 to March this year. Combined with unusually high daytime temperatures, this led to stress conditions that were not ideal for optimal crop production.

The low yields and high input costs mean farmers are under financial pressure as the planting season approaches, and sunflower’s performance has once again demonstrated that it should be part of their crop package.

Sunflower Is The Winner In North West’s Dry Sowing Areas — A maize planting under stress at Sannieshof during the dry 2023-24 season. Photo: Agricol

Success stories

In the 2023-24 season, many farmers were surprised by the performance of cultivars in the Agsun sunflower series. Here are just a few success stories from central North West.

Attie Smook from the farm Kameelboom at Sannieshof-Delareyville says sunflower is a must for seed farmers in western sowing areas because of the crop’s good drought and heat tolerance. Sunflowers, which make up one third of his sown crops, were the best performers last season.

He likes to plant Agricol sunflower cultivars because of their adaptability in dry and wetter years. Attie planted the cultivar Agsun 5109CLP last season and harvested up to 3 tonnes per hectare (t/ha).

Hendrik van der Merwe of the farm Rusoord near Sannieshof plants sunflowers on a third of his fields every year because of their good crop rotation properties.

He likes to plant several of Agricol’s Agsun Clearfield®Plus cultivars. Amid very low rainfall this year, he harvested up to 2 t/ha with Agsun 5103CLP, Agsun 5106CLP, Agsun 5108CLP and Agsun 5109CLP. He fertilised for only 1,5 t/ha.

“When you plant Agricol sunflowers, you are always guaranteed a good harvest,” he says.

Kobus Klaasen from the farm Wolvepan near Sannieshof also plants sunflowers on a third of his fields, and says it was his most profitable crop this year. He likes to plant Agsun 5106CLP and harvested more than 2 t/ha in parts of his fields. According to Kobus, sunflower is a must in the western sowing areas because it spreads risk well.

The farm also benefits from early cash flow because sunflower is harvested before other summer crops.

What does an agricultural economist say?

In the 2023-24 season, farmers waited a long time for sufficient rain to be able to plant their seeds, and after planting rain was limited. This led to very late plantings of maize, soybeans and sunflowers in the western areas.

What should farmers do to limit possible crop losses?

Plant nothing. It is probably not a sensible option, since many farmers need the money from a harvest to survive.
Consider lower fertilisation. The problem with this option is that the input costs of, for example, white maize are high and profit margins are small. With white maize, a yield of just over 3 t/ha is probably needed to break even.

TABLE 1 indicates the planning and budget of crops for the 2023-24 season before planting time.

TABLE 2 shows the probable realised returns and profit margins for the 2023-24 season. From this table it can be deduced that the realised income from maize and soybeans was low. Only sunflower produced a favourable profit margin.

Climate prospects for the coming season are unclear, and we should not lose sight of the chance of an extended El Niño phenomenon.

However, farmers can make smart crop choices in a possible El Niño season by considering smaller plantings of crops with a high risk factor late in the season.

According to the budgeted margins (TABLE 1), sunflower is not the most profitable option of the three main crops, but considering the crop losses of the past season it is the only option that achieved a favourable profit margin (TABLE 2).

There is a risk involved in growing just one crop, and the advantage of a good maize harvest is that it leads to large profit margins. The question is whether the risk is too great to plant only one crop when climatic conditions are unfavourable.

As a hedge against risk, farmers may consider splitting their late plantings. If the farmer, for example, planted 100 ha the past season and structured his late plantings according to TABLE 3, he or she would still have achieved a favourable profit margin, as sunflowers compensated for the loss in soybeans and maize.