Country Context

Administrative/Reporting Units

Admin reporting unit name changes occurred between 1994 and 2003. However, there were no changes in boundaries. Thus, we have only created 1 admin boundary set which is dated as 1994.

Crop Data

Context

Most of the ag data here concerns “commercial” production, often from large farms with irrigation, commercial credit, and resource-intensive practices. It is responsive to a well-developed national farming, banking, export and marketing infrastructure.

The “developing sector” is how official ag stats refer to all small-holder (or “non-commercial”) ag production. Except for a few scattered years, there is no way to break it down by location. 

FEWS NET accessed the official RSA Statistics Directorate database, with their help, on 3/22/16.  The "FEWS NET correction", notation reflects a Source Doc error corrected in the FEWS data. The error was confirmed with the Head of the RSA Statistics Directorate, Rona Beukes. She acknowledged it but said they can't change the official record because there is no official procedure to do so. 

Ag stat source docs may be found at:  https://www.sagis.org.za

FYI: For each crop, there are multiple (5-8) estimates throughout the year. Summer crop estimates are generally finalized in the Sept-November period, and Winter crops in the Feb-May of the next year. FEWS NET generally only records the final estimate for each season and year.

Historical data were re-compiled by the RSA/ZA Ag Stat office to fit the new 1994 boundaries. To have a record of boundaries before that, the old admin/political boundaries are mapped out in the Admin Evolution tab.