South Africa can expect high food prices for the next 12 months at least should no rain fall within the next ten days, effecting a below-average grain crop.

Tragic conditions in the grain farming communities and the rural economy should be expected as a result, Grain SA said in a statement on Friday.

“Good rains in the next ten days could change the direction the crop is going in at the moment but, currently, it does not look good,” Grain SA CEO Jannie de Villiers noted.

The executive of Grain SA, which consisted of 35 farmers from all the grain producing regions in South Africa, met in Pretoria on Thursday to report on the status of the current crop.

Crops in Mpumalanga and eastern Free State were generally good but urgently need follow-up rain, while damage to the maize crop was already visible, especially in the north-west Free State and the North West province.

There was, however, the possibility of an average crop should widespread rain materialise in the next ten days. But weather forecasts were not promising at this stage.

The “extreme” heat and “very dry” conditions currently being experienced were exactly the opposite of what plants needed during pollination, noted Grain SA, adding that South Africa had not experienced a general drought since the early 1990s.

“[However] the maize produced under irrigation, mostly yellow, [which] represents almost 20% of the crop, is also taking strain with all the load shedding,” De Villiers pointed out.

New season white maize prices had increased by R357/t, or 17.5%, during the past ten days. “If we have a crop failure this year, we can see prices increase further by almost 30%,” advised Grain SA.

Maize meal was the biggest staple food in South Africa, especially for the poor, and formed the basis for processed products like poultry, dairy and meat.