The mapping of agricultural commodities and infrastructure in the Western Cape (the second “flyover” project)

by Dr Mike Wallace, mikew@elsenburg.com

TThe first comprehensive “flyover” project was undertaken in 2013 for the Western Cape. For the first time, highly detailed (and mapped) data about all agricultural commodities and all associated infrastructure became available. Due to the dynamic nature of agriculture, it was planned to update the data every four to five years. Therefore the second aerial survey was started during the winter of 2017 and has recently been completed. This provides agricultural data, statistics and intelligence for a wide cross-sector of stakeholders, planners and government departments. The update now also allows for comparisons to be made with the 2013 “baseline” and reveals interesting trends in regional production. The timing of this second flyover survey coincided with one of the worst droughts in the province’s history, which is inevitably reflected in some of the shifts in production.

The Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) has undertaken a detailed analysis of the results, underlining some key fundamental trends in production and in the corresponding infrastructure. Some of the interesting changes evident are the shift to higher-value crops, a dramatic increase in shade netting in the fruit industry, an expansion of citrus plantations and an increase in tree nuts and berries. The area under wine vineyards has gradually decreased and vegetable production has decreased as a direct result of the lengthy drought.

Data from the flyover will in due time be made available on CapeFarmMapper and integrated with internal project management systems (AIMS), while the aggregated statistics will replace the current (municipal) statistics on the Agristats portal.

Also read the Elsenburg Journal article on page 58 of this edition of Agriprobe by agricultural economist Louw Pienaar, titled: “The Flyover Project: tracking agricultural land-use changes in the Western Cape from 2013 – 2017”

Xhosa Summary

I Projekthi i ”Flyover”engokuBalulwa kweeMveliso zoRhwebo kweZolimo kunye Nesiseko Soncedo eNtshona Koloni iProjekthi yokuqala i “Flyover” epheleleyo yase Ntshona Koloni yeenziwa ngo 2013, icacisa iinkcukacha ezimalunga nazo zonke iimveliso zorhwebo ngezolimo kunye nesiseko esiluncedo. kusandul’ukugqitywa ukuhlolwa okwesibini komhlaba olinyiweyo, nokwenziwe ngo 2017. Ngaphandle kweenkcukacha ezintsha zezolimo kunye nobuntlola, kuzakuthelekiswa lo msebenzi nalowo wango 2013.

Olunye utshintsho olunika umdla nolubonakalayo ngokucacileyo kukuphucuka kwezityalo ezinexabiso, ukwanda kakhulu kokusetyenziswa kwezikhuseli zemozulu kwicandelo lokuveliswa kweziqhamo, ukwanda kokutyalwa kwemithi ye “citrus” kunye nokwanda kwimithi yamandongomane namaqunube. Uye ushihla ummandla olima izidiliya zewayini nanjengokuba ihlile nemveliso kwimifuno ngenxa yokuthwaxwa yimbalela ixesha elide.

Zizakufumaneka kungekudala iinkcukacha ze “Flyover” kwi CapeFarmMapper (https://gis.elsenburg.com/apps/cfm/).