Skip to content
RIMAIAgribusiness SchoolMy land

D-land-capability Dictionary

Land Capability

What a piece of land can carry year after year without breaking down, rated in classes from the best arable land to land fit only for conservation

All termsIntroduced in Module 1Open the Toolkit
An open dictionary on a farm office desk
Plain meaning
What a piece of land can carry year after year without breaking down, rated in classes from the best arable land to land fit only for conservation
How to use it
Read your land's class, or its seven readings, before you choose a Major. It decides what the land can grow, what it is worth and what a lender will lend against.
South African benchmark
South Africa publishes a national land capability layer that rates every parcel of land.
Country notes
Extension offices in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia can tell you how your area is classed and what it carries well.
Go and read
C1 Lesson 1.6
Calculate it
T-C-01 Land Use Planner splits the hectares the land can carry between enterprises.
Library sources
LIB-A022, LIB-A125
See also
Opportunity cost, Carrying capacity, Farm strategy
Two hectares measured out, with the four numbers that make land a business assetTwo hectares, measured as a business assetHectare 1100 m x 100 mHectare 210,000 m²100 m100 m100 mLease value a yearthe return to beatSale valuethe capital tied upHolding costfencing, rates, upkeepTenure documentwhat a bank lends on1 hectare = 10,000 square metres. Two hectares is a 200 m x 100 m block.
From Module 1, The Farm as an Asset, where this term is introduced.

Introduced in C1 The Farm as an Asset.