Introduction Wheat is a grain crop, which grows well in rather dry conditions. Crops can be harvested where the annual rainfall is less than 500 mm. Since it is an annual crop, it can grow during the warmer months of the year, in regions that experience cold winters.
Wheat grows best in the cooler parts of Africa.
Since most wheat is grown with the aid of large machines, it needs large areas of flat or gently sloping land. Also wheat does not grow well in waterlogged conditions. Most of the wheat lands are on the plateaus of Eastern and Southern Africa. These gently sloping highlands occur in Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa. In these countries, wheat is grown on large farms with the aid of machines as a cash crop.