No one saw fit to act on early drought alerts

Warnings issued in 2015 of crisis, says Agri Western Cape

AGRI Western Cape claims not much has been done to prevent the water crisis despite its warnings in 2015.

The warnings went unheeded, according to Agri Western Cape chief executive Carl Opperman.

“Agri Western Cape warned in October 2015 that the Western Cape was heading towards a water crisis that needed urgent management.

“Since then, effective plans could have been put on the table. The management of the province’s current water problems requires expertise and competence, not only for the sake of agriculture, but also for every citizen in the province, who is subjected to drastic water restrictions and does not realise what the effect will be if agriculture’s water is cut even more,” Opperman said.

Producers who used water from the Theewaterskloof Dam had already been curtailed to 20% of their use .

“Since water saved from the post-harvest had to be used for the pre-harvest, we are worried about the impact on next season.”

Should the water be cut even further, it would have major economic consequences, with related employment issues.

“Even if dams fill up again and groundwater is in place, it will not solve the problem. The water needs of the province are rising and agriculture with the smallest portion of the water allocation needs to play its part to produce food.

“In our extensive farming areas, livestock producers are still in dire need of feed. Agri Western Cape is still assisting producers in the droughtstricken Central Karoo and West Coast regions with feed.

“Very little has fallen so far in the summer rainfall region of the Karoo and producers in Oudtshoorn are also running into trouble with the Kammanassie and Strompdrift dam levels, which are below 10%.

“The Langkloof is critically dry, with potential negative impacts on especially apple producers in the area.”

He said the province’s water needs better management so that it does not end of up in a similar situation in the future.

“The province created its own crisis because it wasn’t managed. Agri Western Cape urged the premier to urgently establish a task force with representatives from municipalities, organised agriculture, water experts and hydrologists to manage these disasters to ensure the effective future management of our most precious natural resource in future.”

Alan Winde, MEC for eco-

Farmers have their core herds

nomic opportunities in the province, echoed what Opperman said about the severe drought along the West Coast and Central Karoo districts, adding that it was the worst drought in more than 100 years.

“In the West Coast and Central Karoo districts many farmers have been forced to sell their animals and are struggling to feed their core herds.

“We have re-allocated funds to support farmers to buy fodder for their animals. The lack of irrigation water and higher than average temperatures have also impacted on the grape and fruit harvest.”

However, he said through careful water management, farmers had managed to achieve a reasonable harvest, but very little water would be available for the very important post- harvest irrigation period. During this period irrigation is needed to move the fertiliser into the soil in preparation for the next crop.

He said R48 million had been made available for drought assistance.

● The full Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme re- allocation of R10.8m to provide fodder to developing farmers since March

● An amount of R6m used to pay for inputs for emerging grain farmers, who lost their crop last year due to the drought

● R1.5m to provide a monthly livelihood support package to emerging grain farmers and their staff

● Between May and December, financial assistance had been provided to buy fodder for their animals – R18.3m for smallfarmers and R12.2m for commercial farmers through a partnership between the Western Cape government, the private sector and the African Climate and Development Initiative of the University of Cape Town, where the Smart Agri Climate response framework and implementation plan has been launched.

“Onod Smart Agri’s recommendations are conservation agriculture, where we use innovative methods including minimum tillage and crop rotation. By adopting conservation agriculture principles, our Langgewens Research Farm in the Swartland is currently producing nearly double the amount of wheat on less than half of the area previously allocated on this crop.

“A recent study has shown that 98.8% percent of farmers in the middle Swartland are implementing crop rotation,” said Winde.

Through the Fruitlook website farmers use satellite and weather data to check the exact amount of water each crop field needs.

PICTURE: ARMAND HOUGH Residents queue to collect water from the spring at South African Breweries in Newlands.