Agricultural futures - 16 December 2004
December 17, 2004
Johannesburg - South Africa's grain production could fall by a fifth as climate change reduces harvest yields, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, the country's environment minister, said on Wednesday.
Van Schalkwyk did not specify the period over which grain production might fall.
"It has been projected that average temperatures in South Africa could rise between 1 percent and 3 percent by the middle of the 21st century.
"Rainfall in the country, which is alrJohannesburg - South Africa's grain production could fall by a fifth as climate change reduces harvest yields, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, the country's environment minister, said on Wednesday.
Van Schalkwyk did not specify the period over which grain ...eady arid, may be reduced by between 5 percent and 10 percent," Van Schalkwyk said in a written address to a UN environmental conference in Buenos Aires.
The address was posted on the government internet site.
The Crop Estimates Committee, a government body, estimated that South Africa's 10 000 commercial maize farmers harvested 3.68 million tons of yellow maize and 5.81 million tons of white maize this year.
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