Staff Writer
Seed Co is banking on the anticipated La Niña weather pattern to drive increased demand for its seed products in the upcoming season.
Despite navigating a complex operating environment characterised by economic challenges and currency volatility, the seed producer is optimistic about its ability to meet both local and export market demands.
The southern African region has been grappling with the effects of the El Niño weather phenomenon, which brought about reduced rainfall and crop failures.
However, with the anticipated shift to La Niña conditions, which typically bring above-average rainfall, Seed Co is optimistic about a rebound in agricultural production.
“Despite various external challenges, the business is counting on its substantial seed stock to satisfy the demands of both local and export markets in the upcoming season, which is expected to benefit from good rainfall being forecasted,” Seed Co said in a trading update for the quarter ended June 30, 2024.
The 2023/24 El Niño event, which helped fuel a spike in global temperatures and extreme weather around the world, is now showing signs of ending.
According to a new update from the World Meteorological Organisation, there is likely to be a swing back to La Niña conditions later this year.
Latest forecasts from the World Meteorological Organisation Global Producing Centres of Long-Range Forecasts give equal chances (50%) of either neutral conditions or a transition to La Niña from June to August 2024.
The chance of La Niña conditions increases to 60% from July to September and 70% from August to November. According to the World Meteorological Organisation, the chance of El Niño redeveloping is negligible during this time.
La Niña refers to the large-scale cooling of the ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, coupled with changes in the tropical atmospheric circulation, namely winds, pressure and rainfall.
The effects of each La Niña event vary depending on the intensity, duration, time of year when it develops, and the interaction with other modes of climate variability. In many locations, especially in the tropics, La Niña produces the opposite climate impacts to El Niño.
However, naturally occurring climate events such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation now take place in the context of human-induced climate change, which is increasing global temperatures, exacerbating extreme weather and climate, and impacting seasonal rainfall and temperature patterns.
