Nkomazi Local Municipality 20 - Co-operative Governance and ...

Gneiss 14 209.20 4.39Granite 12 234.80 3.78Granophyre 2 492.27 0.77Lava 38 970.11 12.04Lutaceous Arenite 15 018.38 4.64Quartz Monzonite 94 609.33 29.23Rhyolite 18 449.30 5.70Shale 32 529.04 10.05Ultramafic Rocks 2 492.27 0.77Source: Strategic Environmental FocusA large proportion of Nkomazi is underlain with quartz monzonite (30.7%) to the south and central region. Basalt is thesecond most dominant (16.5%) geology type, located to the east. The north-western part is predominantly underlain witharenite and lava. The least occurring geology types are ultramafic rocks, granophyre, gabbro and dolorite.7.2.5. Agriculture Potential7.2.5.1. Soil PotentialIn response to the increasing development pressure and request for information on agricultural land a Soil Potential Layerwas developed by the Department of Agriculture based in Ermelo, as part of a process to develop an Agricultural PotentialMap for Mpumalanga.¹Soil Form Associations, ²Soil Depth and ³Clay Contents layers of the Mpumalanga Soil Mapping Project (Van den Berg) wereused to create a preliminary Soil Potential Layer that shows the location of the different soil potential classes (Low, Low-Medium, Medium, Med-High, High) for Mpumalanga.The soil potential layer was superimposed on Nkomazi municipal area and the results are indicated in the table below:Table 6__ Soil PotentialClass Area (ha) %Low 171147 53Low-Medium 133327.8 41.3Medium 1459.62 0.5Medium-High 13666.48 4.2High 3433.68 1.1The soil potential layer is still a preliminary data set, which need to be verified by field surveys and observations. It should befurther verified and refined before it can be used in the modeling of the Agricultural Potential Layer.7.2.5.2. Agricultural Land CapabilityIn additional to the Soil Potential Layer the Agricultural Land Capability of Nkomazi is illustrated in the table below.Table 7__ Soil PotentialClass Area (ha) %Very Low 49400.2 15.3Low 30475.9 9.4Medium 243105.2 75.3High 0 0Accordingly, 0% of the municipal area is regarded as high potential agricultural soils, 75.3% as medium potential agriculturalsoils and 15.3% as very low potential soils. Most of the agriculture activities (grazing and irrigation) take place on mediumpotential land.NKLM Integrated Development Plan 2012_2013 21