Africa Estate Farm Tools
Irrigation profit: what does irrigating this crop add?
The same crop on the same land with and without irrigation, per hectare: what the water adds in income, what it adds in cost, and what is left. Both sides start from Grain SA's 2026/27 budgets (an irrigated and a dryland budget of the same crop); type your own yields and costs over them. Work out your own irrigation cost from your pump's kilowatts and hours at Eskom's tariff and the gazetted DWS water charge, and use it in place of Grain SA's irrigation line.
1. The crop under irrigation
2. The same land on dryland
3. Your irrigation cost (optional)
Your pump's electricity at Eskom's tariff and the gazetted DWS water charge, excluding VAT. It replaces Grain SA's irrigation line only when you press Use; it is never added to it. Need the kW and hours? Work them out in Water & irrigation.
Enter the pump's kW, the hours and the hectares to work out your own irrigation cost.
4. Capital and what-ifs (optional)
The answer
Irrigated, maize brings R 7 030/ha more income than on dryland (8.00 t against 6.20 t) and costs R 20 516/ha more to grow, so the gross margin is R 13 485/ha lower than dryland. Irrigation matches the dryland margin at 11.45 t/ha at R 3 906/t.
| Irrigated | Dryland | Irrigation adds | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yield, t/ha | 8.00 t | 6.20 t | |
| Farm-gate price, R/t | R 3 906 | R 3 906 | |
| Income | R 31 246 | R 24 216 | +R 7 030 |
| Variable costs (irrigation R 11 848) | R 40 831 | R 20 316 | -R 20 516 |
| Gross margin | -R 9 585 | R 3 900 | -R 13 485 |
| Overheads (Grain SA, one total) | R 6 808 | R 7 499 | +R 691 |
| After overheads | -R 16 393 | -R 3 599 | -R 12 794 |
Irrigated: Eastern Free State: Maize under irrigation. Dryland: Eastern Free State: Maize (conventional), at the irrigated price. Grain SA 2026-09-04; excluding VAT.
Irrigation matches the dryland gross margin at 11.45 t/ha (3.45 t more than the 8.00 t entered).
In a dry year with the dryland yield 50% lower: irrigation adds -R 1 377/ha. With prices 20% lower on both: -R 14 891/ha (hypothetical, not a forecast; costs unchanged).
One season's money on this land, not whether to irrigate: the water right's value, the risk over the years and tax are not in it, and capital only when you enter it.
Choose what goes along to the other crop tools
What you untick starts from Grain SA's figures in the other tool. Nothing personal goes along: farm figures only.
The crop tools receive the irrigated crop with its irrigation line (R 11 848.40/ha, Grain SA's).
What this does not tell you
- This does not tell you whether to irrigate. It shows one season's money on this land on the figures you choose; the value of the water right and of the land, the risk over the years and tax are not in it.
- Grain SA's yields are five-year provincial averages, not your farm. Its irrigation line is one figure per hectare and does not say what is in it (electricity, water charges, repairs).
- Grain SA publishes no dryland budget for the Northern Cape; there the dryland side is the North Western Free State's, and the screen says so.
- The DWS charge is the water resource management charge on the registered volume. Government water scheme and water user association charges are your scheme's own: type them from your account.
- Only Eskom's Landrate 1, Landrate 2 and Businessrate 1 are listed; for Ruraflex or a bigger supply, type your account's rate. All figures exclude VAT.
- The capital cost of the pivot, the pump and the water right is counted only when you enter it.
- Nothing you enter is uploaded or kept by us; the share link carries farm figures only.
Sources
- Grain SA summer grain production budgets 2026/27 (2026-09-04)
- Department of Water and Sanitation, General Notice 3687 of 2025 (Gazette 53818): raw water use charges 2026/27, water resource management charge, irrigation (2026-04-01)
- Eskom Tariffs and Charges Booklet 2026/2027 (NERSA approved, non-local authority) (2026-04-01)
Estimate, not advice. Confirm every figure with your bank, attorney and tax practitioner before a decision.