Agriculture losing billions

Declaring drought a national disaster will negatively impact sector, says minister

SOUTH Africa’s agricultural sector has suffered losses worth about R16 billion as a result of a drought that has devastated many farmers in the country. Despite the losses to the sector, Agriculture Minister Senzeni Zokwana again said the government would not be declaring the drought a national disaster.

The minister insisted that, in some cases, the situation was improving as a result of intervention from the government as well as from non- governmental organisations.

“What we have seen recently as we were doing estimates of crops that would tell us how much we will be able to import in terms of grains… is that we’ll be able to harvest 7.2 million tons and that would expose us to 1.8 million tons of white maize and 2.7 million of yellow maize (imports).

“We are worried about the coming winter, so there are plans to deal with that.

“I don’t think a national disaster would assist us in doing our work now.”

Zokwana said that declaring a national disaster could have a negative impact because the country’s banks would be unwilling to invest in the sector.

“If you were to do that, the banks would reduce exposure in agriculture in terms of planning going forward and therefore you run the risk of struggling to get them (banks) to come forward for investment when you need them to.”

Meanwhile, disaster relief organisation Gift of the Givers yesterday thanked South Africans for helping those that have been hardest hit by the drought.

“Thank you South Africa for helping us in trying to help the drought-stricken,” said founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman.

Sooliman said that project manager Emily Thomas was left emotional and speechless after witnessing the dire situation of the farmers.

He added that the “land mourns for fields that are ruined, the ground is dry, and the mealie and sunflower plants that were supposed to be at shoulder height during this time of year lie flat and dead”.

“The financial burden is heavy to bear as grazing fields are barren and farmers are forced to sell their breeding cattle.”

Gift of the Givers have also been distributing animal feed and water to other affected areas across the country.

Included in these missions by the organisation was the distribution of 100 five litre bottles of water in Limpopo donated by the International American School, 600 five litre bottles of water from Shukrul Mubeen Mosque to 600 families in the Western Cape’s Illingulethu community, 52 000 litres of water in Nongoma in KwaZulu- Natal, and the installation of a borehole in the Qwa Qwa area of the Eastern Cape. – ANA

WE ARE WORRIED ABOUT THE COMING WINTER, SO THERE ARE PLANS TO DEAL WITH THAT. I DON’T THINK A NATIONAL DISASTER WOULD ASSIST US IN DOING OUR WORK