Bleak harvest
AREPORT on farm wages by the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP), reflected in this newspaper yesterday, makes for dispiriting reading: whichever way you turn you run into apparently insoluble problems.
In essence the research confirms that the minimum wage is too low to sustain workers and their families with adequate nutrition – but if the average wages went up by more than R20 from current levels, “many of the typical farms will be unable to cover their operating expenses”.
Increasing the minimum wage to R104 a day – R35 up on the current minimum wage but R20 more than the existing average wage – would have a devastating effects on farms and, ultimately, workers.
In current conditions many farm owners would not be able to repay debts and would either go under or seek cheaper, mechanised methods. Other potential consequences would include a reduction in farm produce, a decrease in agricultural exports and a reduction in income tax paid to government.
Elsewhere in today’s edition we reflect the other side of the coin – the harsh reality facing families trying to make a living on the minimum wage. The bureau’s report says the monthly income of the poorest 50% of rural Western Cape households is R2 015, which means these families can afford a basket of basic food items only 1.7 times a month.
Francis Wilson, the acting pro vice-chancellor for poverty and inequality at UCT, put the dilemma thus: “Of course there is a need for putting upward pressure on farm wages, but at the same time we don’t want to generate massive unemployment”.
BFAP lead researcher Ferdi Meyer said the industry needed drastic change to remain viable: “An increase in wages is not the only solution and government might look at tax breaks for farmers who keep workers employed.”
Whatever the solution, the research does give the lie to simplistic representations of the issues by hotheads on both sides of the divide. It demands an urgent and comprehensive intervention by the ministers of agriculture and labour to ensure that such voices do not continue to fuel violence in places like the Hex River Valley, Grabouw and Ceres.