South Africa has no more than 15 percent of land that can be used for crop production due to low rainfall and poor soil, agriculture minister Senzeni Zokwana said on Wednesday.
Covering 1.2-million square km of land, South Africa is self-sufficient in virtually all major agricultural products but it uses 50 percent of its water for irrigation.
This problem is worsening however, with the drought in the Western Cape recently being declared a disaster. This follows a trend however. South Africa suffered its driest year on record in 2015 according to the national weather service. The current drought which has damaged crops and hit economic growth shows no sign of abating.
source: citizen.co.za
