Durban - Farmers are demanding government action as load shedding affects every area of agriculture, from vaccine storage to irrigation, warning that if they collapse, food supplies will too.
Kwanalu chief executive officer Sandy La Marque said constant disruptions to farming activities impacted on food security, provision of water to animals and irrigation systems and safety and security on farms.
“Production lines and cold chains are disrupted; the severe impact list goes on and on.”
She said her organisation and farmer representatives had held a constructive meeting with Eskom on Wednesday, putting on the table ”a number of proposed solutions and are committed to urgently seek quick interventions and short, medium and long term solutions”.
Wandile Sihlobo, chief agri economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz), warned roughly 20% of maize, 15% of soya beans, 34% of sugar cane, and nearly half of wheat production would be affected.
“Fruits and vegetables also heavily rely on irrigation and thus face similar challenges. For red meat, poultry, piggery, wool, and dairy production, there are also concerns that load shedding beyond stage 2 makes operations and planning challenging, as these industries all require continuous power. Similarly, agribusinesses face downstream challenges, such as milling, bakeries, abattoirs, wine processing, packaging, and animal vaccine production.”
Sihlobo warned that consumers would feel the pinch and have to dig deeper into their pockets to survive food inflation.
He said there were also food security concerns, as the effect of load shedding would probably show in the volumes of products to be harvested/produced in the coming months because of the time lag in agricultural production stages.
In KZN, Kamberg Valley livestock farmer Fakazani Mgwaba said the government needed to urgently consider offering farmers subsidies because load shedding would cause many farmers to go bankrupt.
Since the start of this month, Fakazani Mgwaba has already lost 27 of his sheep because the vaccines must be kept in the fridge at all times.
Mgwaba also slaughters and supplies customers with meat for which he needs cold storage. He said that since the load shedding problems started last year, he had lost about R260 000.
Mgwaba has also invested thousands of rands in alternative energy solutions but even those batteries need to be recharged and sometimes the electricity does not return for several days.
“We are losing money and food prices are going to skyrocket very soon. The long term effect is that if I stop farming today then it is one farmer gone. It took me about 10 years to establish myself because farming is a long term investment.
“When the farmers go then the food goes and then we will go to the US and buy food in dollars, which no one will be able to afford,” he said.
Donnybrook dairy farmer Rob Stapylton-Smith said the government must “throw all its time and resources around this problem and turn it around; put energy back into the grid from private sources and get rid of red tape”.
He said that six months ago he would have found stages one, two and three something to complain about. Now, having adapted to the lower levels, he simply hopes it won’t go beyond stage four.
“At stages four, three, two and one we feel we might survive by manipulating the hours people work, employing more people. This means odd hours – earlier in the morning and irrigating at night,” said Stapylton-Smith who milks 2 300 head of cattle that produce 13 million litres a year.
“With stage five and upwards, we are in big trouble. At level six the country cannot operate. At level four, we can maybe make a plan.”
He said that in his game, it was essential to irrigate pastures.
“If you don’t you might as well just close shop. It is such a worry. We are all sitting tight, hoping. The government will need to throw all its resources behind this problem and try to work it out.”
Doubting that solar power would be able to drive large irrigation systems, Stapylton-Smith said he had considered a massive investment in extra generators this week.
He ordered them on Wednesday but changed his mind the next day, taking into consideration theft problems he already has to live with.
“Eight generators would have exposed us to more vandalism, diesel and cable theft.”
He said he would have also had to invest in more fencing for security and in infrastructure, such as making farm roads able to deal with more traffic of heavy vehicles bringing in diesel supplies.
“So while generators would have helped, they also would have also been hugely expensive and presented a huge worry.”
In the macadamia nut sector, Gingindlovu farmer Brett Arde said electricity was essential for the husking and drying process which had to take place at a predetermined rate.
“If you fall behind, you won’t finish the crop.”
Load shedding beyond stage two made things “problematic”, he said.
Empangeni sugar farmer Quentin Benningfield pointed out that while irrigation hours would be adjusted, going out to fix a pump problem at 2am could expose farmers to crime.
Any food inflation caused by farmers’ woes would be felt by the consumer, said Mervyn Abrahams, programme co-ordinator of the Pietermaritzburg Economic, Justice and Dignity organisation.
“If farmers are feeling the pinch of load shedding, that’s at the beginning of the value chain of foods. It’s fed through the chain to the consumer who will have to carry the cost in a difficult economic environment.”
His organisation has asked for a dedicated unit in the Office of the President to monitor uncoordinated hikes such as this week’s interest rates hikes and the coming Eskom price hikes.
“The poor consumer is bashed from every side and doesn’t have any more disposable income. There is just nothing any more.”
The Independent on Saturday