XTREME WEATHER a doubleedged sword for KZN farmers

Exceedingly wet, but often destructive, weather conditions experienced recently across swathes of drought-stricken KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) have largely been welcomed by the province’s farmers.

Representatives of various agricultural bodies in the province said that many of their members had been struggling due to the wide-ranging negative effects resulting from the late spring and summer rain this year.

Thube Zondi, secretary of the KZN chapter of the African Farmers’ Association of South Africa, said the association’s members, especially in northern KZN, were grateful for the recent rain, which had accompanied often violent thunderstorms characterised by severe lightning, high winds and hail.

“Following the recent rain, our members are now looking forward to being able to continue with their farming operations. Until now they’d had to put everything on hold because they didn’t know if or when they would get rain,” he said.

The spokesperson for the South African Farmers’ Development Association (SAFDA), Ronda Naidu, said that although SAFDA’s members were grateful for the recent rain, the association had received reports of damage to some farming operations due to the thunderstorms.

“For example, [harvested sugar] cane from small-scale farmers that has been waiting to be transported to the mills, and some farmers whose farms are close to rivers and waterways, are experiencing flooding, with their vegetable crops being submerged. These farmers are likely to experience financial losses,” said Naidu.

Sandy La Marque, CEO of the KZN Agricultural Union, said that preliminary results of a comprehensive drought survey conducted among members revealed that, even with the recent heavy rain, the province’s farmers generally remained in a “serious situation” due to the negative effects of scarce water resources.

“[This spring and summer] we’ve been seeing quite extreme weather conditions that are not normal for our province. This is a challenge that is putting pressure on our farmers’ [crop] production and fodder banks. Rainfall across the province has been quite variable, and water resources are significantly lower now than at the same time last year. By no means is our drought in any way broken,” she said.

The chairperson of the KZN Red Meat Producers’ Organisation, Hendrik Botha, also reported extremely variable and patchy recent rainfall. “Although there has been some damage from the storms, our livestock farmers are grateful for any moisture that they’ve received. It’s still very dry in KZN, but if the rain continues, the grass will regrow and we will be all right. We will survive,” he said. – Lloyd Phillips