World’s Soil Resources

management, it is important to note that agriculture in South Africa has a dualistic nature, with a welldeveloped
commercial sector on the one hand, and a predominantly subsistence or small-scale agricultural
sector in communal areas on the other.
The first, and to date only, nationwide study of soil distribution was done by the Land Type Survey Staff
(2003) from 1970 to 2003. The study delineated areas known as ‘land types’ at 1:250 000 scale - land types
were defined as areas displaying a marked degree of uniformity in terms of terrain form, soil pattern and
climate. The study included an in-depth analysis of a number of soil profiles, termed modal profiles, selected
to represent the range of soils encountered during the survey. Soils from 2 380 profiles across the country
were described and analysed for morphological and chemical data and classified according to the binomial
classification system developed for South Africa (MacVicar et al., 1977). Each land type includes a collection of
soils and their relative distribution in terms of area per landscape position, as well as their characteristics in
terms of physical and chemical properties. The resultant national map of broad soil patterns is shown in Figure
9.10.
Status of the World’s Soil Resources | Main Report Regional Assessment of Soil Changes
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in Africa South of the Sahara