What is it?

The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) AGIS provides public access to spatial and non-spatial agricultural information and related datasets.

Key Points

  • Crop locations, grazing capacity, soil type, rainfall, temperature
  • Agriculture infrastructure including feedlots, markets, abattoirs
  • Most data accessed via interactive map viewers
  • Download spatial data files

Why is it Important?

AGIS is important for supporting more integrated decision-making by government officials developing policies and programmes to support the agriculture sector, but also for commercial and emerging farmers (and enablers like insurance companies and finance) trying to identify new opportunities and plan for growth.


How can it be accessed and used?

AGIS provides a number of platforms and interfaces for browsing specific data sources. Highlights include:

AGIS Comprehensive Atlas is a map-based view of a number of spatial data layers which can be enabled or disabled depending on area of interest. Major layers include agriculture infrastructure (e.g. abattoirs, power stations, feedlots, fresh produce markets), fires, administrative boundaries, climate, crops, landuse (e.g. grazing capacity, irrigated land, cultivated crop types), soil (e.g. erosion, natural fertility), terrain and geology, and vegetation.

Download or Request Data, mainly in PDF and SHP file formats. The data available for download (not in PDF format) is a sub-set of the data that can be viewed through the Atlas. An interesting recent addition is the Grazing Capacity 2016 dataset for South Africa measured in hectares per large stock unit (ha/LSU).

There are also map views and downloads available for various other requirements such as Limpopo Crops and a PDF map gallery.

There are many other information sources that can be found via the DAFF website, such as the Marketing Information System, the weekly price watch, and list of provincial extension officers.

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Grazing Capacity 2016

Location: South Africa
Format: SHP
Year: 2016Last Checked:None
Online: Access URL
Column/
File Names:
  • ha_LSU: Hectares per large stock unit in the defined region
  • Area_Ha: Hectares of the defined region
  • OBJECTID: Unique region identifier

Rainfall - Mean annual

Location: South Africa
Format: SHP
Year: 2001Last Checked:None
Online: Access URL
Column/
File Names:
  • sde_sde__2: Mean annual rainfall in the defined region
  • sde_sde__3: Unique region identifier
  • sde_sde__3: Region mean rainfall category
  • land
  • rural
  • location
  • finance
  • agriculture
  • planning

Resource contact name:Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

Creation or start date:2018-12-14

Resource contact updated at:2018-12-18

Spatial coverage  South Africa http://www.geonames.org/953987/south-africa.html

Where else has the resource been used?

Year Project Name::
2017 Estimating the Impact of Crop Diversity on Agricultural Productivity in South Africa
2016 Validation and verification of lawful water use in South Africa: An overview of the process in the KwaZulu-Natal Province
2014 The impact of effective (geo-spatial) planning on the agricultural sector