Wool farmers take a haircut as drought grips Eastern Cape
FARMING GAMBOL: Grazing is under pressure because of the drought AS the drought ravages grazing and pushes up the cost of feed, sheep farmers have trimmed their flocks, placing the wool market in a vulnerable position heading into the new season that starts in July.
“Most [wool] farmers have already sold unproductive stock and this could lead to a decrease in production in the coming season,” Guillau du Toit, chairman of the National Wool Growers’ Association, said this week.
“With the low grazing capacity and less available food, the wool will also be shorter in growth, meaning less kilograms per sheep,” said Du Toit.
Drought can also affect the quality and strength of the fibre, which could lead to lower prices.
About 90% of South Africa’s wool — which is used mainly for clothing and carpets — is exported to China and Europe, making the industry one of the beneficiaries of a weaker rand. The total value of wool sold at auctions in 2014-15 was R3.5-billion.
Du Toit said wool farmers were better off than others in the farming sector during drought because they could continue to produce, whereas grain growers, for example, could have their entire crop destroyed.
South Africa produces an average of about 50 000 tons of wool a year and the industry employs 35 000 workers, mostly in the Eastern Cape.
“In the Eastern Cape alone more than 100 000 families are dependent on wool-sheep farming,” said Du Toit.
Farmers running angora goats in the Karoo — South Africa is the world’s biggest producer of mohair — say they have been spared the worst of the drought.
“We have been fortunate enough in the Karoo region in the last six months. Apart from individual farms, the drought has not been as pervasive compared to other provinces,” said Deon
SHEAR HARD WORK: Wool is a key part of the farming economy Saayman, MD of Mohair South Africa.
The agricultural sector contracted further in the fourth quarter of last year, due largely to the drought.
To help mitigate the impact, the government has spent more than R1-billion on helping smallholder farmers and indebted commercial farmers. In his budget last month, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan allocated R2.8-billion to a food security initiative, Fetsa Tlala.
Syngenta economist Manfred Venter said: “The drought has taken its toll already . . . it is too late for rain to really change the current scenario when it comes to crops or livestock.”