Land quality can be expected to have important implications for productivity and so also for policy. Land quality is a factor influencing the price of land. Factors influencing land prices were therefore disaggregated on a regional basis. Land quality indices were constructed by considering only those factors directly affecting quality, and with significant statistical coefficients. Statistical regions were used as units of observation. Land quality was found to vary considerably. In some South African regions, land quality is comparable to that in the most arid regions of the world. The quality in certain small areas compares with above‐average land qualities in the world, but not with the best.