Agriculture industry feels pinch of continuous load-shedding

● SA’s key field crops at risk due to restricted irrigation

Frustrations over continuous load-shedding has spread beyond the city’s borders as the agricultural industry feels the impact of intermittent power outages.

Irrigation, dairy, livestock and a range of farming activities dependent on reliable power are struggling to keep up as there is no end in sight for SA’s ongoing electricity woes.

Agricultural economist Wandile Sihlobo said SA’s worsening energy crisis was now the most urgent problem facing agriculture and agribusiness.

And while the impact on day-to-day activities mounts, the effect prolonged load-shedding has on food security is yet to be quantified.

“Farmers who rely on irrigation have all expressed concerns that persistent load-shedding is negatively affecting production,” Sihlobo said.

“In key field crops, roughly 20% of maize, 15% of soybean, 34% of sugar cane and nearly half of the wheat production are produced under irrigation.”

Similarly, fruit and vegetable production also relies heavily on irrigation, while operations and forward planning for the production of red meat, poultry, pork and animal fibres such as wool and mohair become increasingly difficult as the stages of load-shedding escalate.

Dairy production is one of the hardest-hit agricultural industries for its multifaceted dependence on reliable electricity, particularly in the Eastern Cape, and the Milk Producers Organisation (MPO) said there was no clear solution.

MPO chief executive Fanie Ferreira said the biggest concern during extended periods of load-shedding was irrigation in regions where farmers were dependent on crops to feed their cows.

“Irrigation systems require massive amounts of power to operate effectively.

“A mechanism like a centre pivot draws a lot of electricity and the generators or solar panels needed to power something like that would be nearly unaffordable.

“Our milk producers along the coast are responsible for about 90% of our milk production, and the majority of them rely heavily on irrigation to produce sufficient food for their livestock.

“And with the amount of load-shedding we are currently facing, there’s just not enough electricity hours in a day to produce feed at the required rate.”

Ferreira said other systems required for milk production, such as milking facilities and cold storage, could be powered by alternative energy sources.

“Load-shedding has been around for a good couple of years, so we’ve had time to adapt.

“We have been able to set up generators and solar power systems to power milking machines and fridges.

“But the biggest challenge remains feed production.”

Agri Eastern Cape president Peter Cloete said the agricultural sector was facing devastating consequences across all industries.

“The impact on the dairy industry is massive.

“Livestock producers and abattoirs are feeling the pinch, and I recently heard about a poultry farmer who lost 50,000 chickens due to system failures brought on by power outages.”

Cloete said crop producers had reported losses where they formed part of schemes where water shedding had also been implemented, giving them access to water for only set periods of time during the day.

“On irrigation schemes guys pay for water, but it coincides with load-shedding and they literally stand and watch the water flow past them because they cannot activate pumps and irrigation systems.

“And once that water is gone, it doesn’t come around again.”

Besides load-shedding, Cloete said much of the rural Eastern Cape was being plagued by power failures due to cable theft, and he recently spent R2m on his own solar energy system to mitigate losses on his farm.

“Law and order is lacking and that just further adds to the power woes.

“On top of that there are talks of further electricity price increases, and I find it baffling that we have to pay more for ever-decreasing services.”