Agritech, which consists of gadgets such as drones, have been helpful to assist farmers to get a bird’s eye view of their farms and crops. Ross Jenvey, General Partner at Kingson, explains all technological solutions that benefit the agricultural sector can be marked as 'agritech'. He says some of the examples are drone technology and the internet of things (IoT) – which are devices that communicate with one another by means of WiFi technology. Regarding the future of agritech in South Africa, Jenvey says he believes that more innovations will be developed within the country from current entrepreneurs as well as start-up businesses. He also adds that funding is an important issue - but foresees more funding opportunities and creativity around funding in the future.

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Recently released high-frequency data shows that the outlook for South Africa’s 2020/21 summer and winter crop season remains positive. This is according to chief economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa, Agbiz, Wandile Sihlobo, who says some summer crop-growing regions of the country have started receiving summer rains and could continue to see good precipitation into February 2021. This is also the period where the South African Weather Service anticipates that there will be above-normal rainfall in the country as part of the expected La Niña weather event. Sihlobo explains that even though summer crop growing areas are at early stages of planting, recently released intentions to plant data by the Crop Estimates Committee, show that farmers intend to increase the area plantings for summer crops by 5% year-on-year to 4.1 million hectares.

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