From unpredictable weather patterns to electricity and water outages, Mzansi’s farmers are on their last nerve with many admitting that they aren’t even sure whether they will break even. It’s been a tough year in terms of farmer challenges, and the troubles seem to be piling up.
Just ask Free State maize and poultry farmer Clifford Mthimkulu who has already lost thousands of Rands due to factors beyond his control.
“Load shedding has affected me negatively because I have an incubator, so it destroys my eggs inside the incubator. As for foot-and-mouth disease, I had 50 cattle in my feedlot. I ended up taking them to the veld,” he says.
To add insult to injury, farmers have been hit hard by rising fuel prices leading to ever-rising fertiliser and other input costs.
Mthimkulu adds, “There was a point where it [the diesel price] was at R27 per litre while I had budgeted for R24, so the rapid hike of fuel and commodity prices led to a person losing money because on a farm, fuel is a need we cannot do without it.”
This year, the usually optimistic farmer also had to come to terms with the impact of climate change on his farm. One of his farms received 800mm of rain in a week’s time with devastating consequences. “I lost 100 hectares of maize which is equivalent to R900 000. The maize suffocated from water,” he sighs.
Load shedding woes
Meanwhile, Gauteng poultry farmer Bayanda Maseko agrees that 2022 is showing the farmers flames. Earlier this month, he lost 2 000 broiler chicks following three days without electricity which costed his operations R85 000.
“We struggled to get drinking water and enough heat for the night, so chicks died from heat of the day and cold of the night. We could not administer medication due to a lack of water for almost three days. The chicks could not survive it.
“We are currently having a generator that we connect to the power supply just to distribute power for lights to warm the chickens. We used to make fire a lot, but I do not like it for the health of the chickens due to smoke.”
Maseko plans on installing solar panels on his farm, but still requires the capital to achieve this goal.
“Another alternative is a giant generator or large coal boiler system to supply the whole structure with adequate heat. I saw this working on one of the commercial farms I am involved with but, again, it is expensive and needs proper business structuring.”
Impact of unemployment
Lebogang Phume, a vegetable and livestock farmer from Wolmaransstad in North West, says she is still coming to terms with the after effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“For us who are operating in villages and small towns, it is difficult to make business because people are unemployed. The local market that we rely on to buy from us do not have money, so we end up coming back with the produce because no one buys them.
“When it comes to fuel, we are deciding that in the next planting season, we will cut the number of hectares that we intend to plant because the cost of fuel is too much.”
Dineo Mphahlele, a beetroot farmer in Gauteng’s Winterveld, has also experienced setbacks because of crime, load shedding and water shortages. She dug a borehole to have access to water, but it was stolen in 2018 and she since bought a water pump that requires electricity.
“We can go for about three days with no water. In this heat, the plants need [a lot of] water, so with the power going off [due to Eskom’s protracted load shedding] we end up being frustrated about what to do. Also, farming needs water so without water it is difficult to produce [that is good enough to go] to the market.”
Meanwhile a livestock farmer in Rietz in the Free State Annalea Van Niekerk said financial support and the crippling economy was the biggest challenges that farmers in the country were facing while trying to create jobs.
“Farmers are facing challenges with the new planting season because of the high prices in fertiliser, in maize seeds and fuel. The high input costs are making it difficult for farmers to continue with their operations,” she said.
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