THE FUSE

Groundnuts occupy a relatively small area in South Africa’s summer crop landscape, but their significance extends well beyond the hectares planted. The crop contributes to nutritional security, supports value-added processing, and provides important diversification for grain and oilseed producers. Average production ranges between 50 000 and 55 000 tons from roughly 40 000 hectares, highlighting a stable but limited output. Even in years with reasonable yields, domestic production is insufficient to meet total commercial demand, making imports necessary to supply edible nuts and peanut butter markets. This gap presents opportunities for producers to focus not just on increasing hectares, but on improving yield consistency, quality, and value per ton to strengthen competitiveness.