Weather destroying fresh produce, flowers
THE extreme weather – including heatwaves and flooding – has resulted in farmers incurring huge financial losses in recent months.
Traders at the Bangladesh Market in Chatsworth said their crops and livestock had died as a result of the adverse weather that had continued unabated in KwaZulu-Natal.
Shane Maharaj, who has been in the fresh produce and marigold business for many years, said his losses had been running into thousands of rand each month, as the extreme weather had destroyed his produce and flowers.
“The peppers rot, and the cabbage and lettuce leaves wilt. We have to remove the outer leaves before we sell them. This makes the product smaller and we have to sell at a lower price,” he said.
Normally, he would sell a cabbage or lettuce for R10, but when it wilted due to the heat, he was forced to reduce the price to R5.
Maharaj said with the heat, the green chillies dried and the potatoes rotted.
He stopped harvesting marigolds, which he had done for the last seven years from behind RK Khan Hospital, because last year’s crop did not survive the extreme weather.
It was no longer financially viable for him to plant marigolds due to the current climate, he said.
“The plant goes into shock. One day there is extreme heat, the next there is heavy rain, and there are also windy days. Nobody knows what a farmer goes through to get a good crop and bring it to the market.
“There are many factors which lead to the pricing of fresh produce, and the weather is one of the main factors. The weather is affecting the crops badly, and in a few years’ time, we will have to eat our money, not food,” Maharaj said.
Bomey and Sydney Govender, who sell a variety of vegetables at the market, said they were losing around R300 a week because of the weather.
“We are forced to throw out the dhania and green beans because it gets dry quickly. The brinjal shrinks and that also goes into the bin,” they said.
Rakesh Singh, who sells fruit and vegetables, said his losses were with bananas, which could not stand the Durban heat.
Singh has been in the fresh produce industry for 43 years. He took over the stall of his late father-in-law, Munsami Govender.
He said: “Our sales have declined and we suffer huge losses because a lot of damaged produce – like the overripe bananas – have to be thrown away. I buy them green from the farm, but they do not last as long as they used to.
“Lettuce and herbs hardly survive. We keep items in a cold room most of the time. But when the produce gets to the market, we have a problem. We are planning to get refrigerated shop fronts to mitigate our losses,” he said.
Another stall owner, Dianne
Govender, said she was struggling to find a way to make the green beans last longer.
“I am losing hundreds of rand each week. I buy herbs for R300 a box, and after removing the wilted ones, I am not making a profit.
“I buy dhania for R450 per box of 36 bunches, and sell them for R10 each, which is not profitable.
“I am unable to cope with the losses,” she said.
Shomane Goorawa, who sells offal, cannot afford to let her business suffer and leaves the produce in a freezer, taking only a few items to the market.
“I carry a limited number of items to sell each day, especially if it is very hot. I then ask my customers to fetch items from my home, where I have a large freezer to store my offal,” Goorawa said.
Lee Pather, owner of Parkside and Leepat Poultry in Silverglen, said the extreme weather affected her live chickens when they were transported for sale.
His business was started by his late dad, Shanomogam Pather, in 1972, and he took over in 1997.
“We transport about 4 000 live chickens at a time. We have specialised trucks with ventilation, but during extreme heat, the chickens don’t cope and some die.
“The heavy rains also affect the business as when it’s very cold and the rain wets the chickens, they die from hypothermia,” he said.
To keep the chickens well hydrated, Pather said he had equipped the farm with automatic drinkers so there was always a continuous supply of drinking water.
The farm also has a back-up borehole system with filtered water.