According to Numbeo, a database on crime stats released to project the unsafest countries in the world, South Africa is fifth with a crime index of 7.5 and a safety index of 24.5. This indicates that the country is not only dangerous but unfriendly to do business in.
Farmers and industry experts shared their thoughts on the safety of farming in South Africa. A common opinion remains that while South Africa has a lot of potential, farmers are not operating in the most favourable farming conditions.
Numbeo is a Serbian crowd-sourced online database of perceived consumer prices, real property prices, and quality of life metrics.
A good country to farm in, but …
Drakenstein Farmers Watch chief executive officer and guava farmer Daan Van Leeuwen Boomkamp told Food For Mzansi that South Africa is one of the best countries in the world to farm in, however, one problem remains – crime.
“The circumstances in South Africa and the way a food producer needs to operate are not very favourable. We have seen an increase in crime including a lot of farm attacks.
“We have a moral decay in our society and it makes it very dangerous for farmers to continue with their work. So we see a huge fallback from our farmers. The conditions farmers work in are not very pleasant and these are people who are very important for our gross domestic product (GDP),” he said.
According to Agri SA director of rural safety and provincial affairs Kobus Visser, 7 out of 10 South African commercial farmers who participated in a recent study by Agri SA, experienced one or other form of crime in 2017.
“This was but one of several startling facts about the extent of crime that South African farmers experience daily, according to the Agri SA 2018 national agricultural sector crime survey, recently commissioned by the Bureau of Market Research (BMR) of Unisa.
“Equally notable from the crime study is that almost a third of commercial agricultural units experienced an increase in crime incidents during the past three years and the results emphasise Agri SA’s concerns regarding the extent of crime being experienced in commercial agriculture,” he added.
Visser explained that there is a definite need for reliable South African agricultural crime statistics in light of uncertainty regarding the prevalence of violent crime and agricultural property crime.
The dangers faced by farmers
Head of PPS Stop Farm Murders Petrus Sitho said South Africa is not a safe country to farm in, adding that farmers in the Free State are selling their livestock to get out of agriculture due to stock theft and the political unwillingness to protect and safeguard them and their property.
“Farms are burned down in the North West province due to arson and my opinion is that political influence is behind this deliberate arson.
“The risks to their lives and those of their families and workers as well as theft and robbery have made them resort to drastic measures like abandoning their farming activities,” he said.
He added that the unwillingness of the government to safeguard farmers and their farmworkers has severe consequences. He alleges that 95% of farm attacks in the last five years have not been investigated and no convictions have been made.
“Just recently, South Africa was ranked 72nd out of 180 countries in terms of corruption, according to the Corruption Perceptions Index reported by Transparency International,” he said.
Combatting crime
Free State agriculture head of security Jane Buys said farmers are faced with mostly farm attacks and murders which has affected the sector negatively and poses a threat to job security.
“Livestock theft is the biggest issue faced by farming in Free State. Then there is theft of produce and infrastructure where cables, poles and fencing are also stolen. There is also malicious damage to property.
“There are a lot of crimes impacting the sector. The impact of crime on the agriculture sector is enormous and I think that is why farmers and the people in the sector are up in arms about criminality in the sector as a whole,” she said.
Buys said the industry is not safe anymore for farmers to continue producing food for the country when their lives and those of farmworkers are forever under threat.
Farmers need to be proactive
Buys said farmers need to make sure they align themselves with proper groups in their areas and have relevant contact numbers in case of emergency. She added that it was advisable that farmers identify associations that focus on safety and security and belong to them.
“They need to make sure there are not a lot of bushes around the house, but just one access route to the house, with a radio control gate. I think they also need to have a camera system or security lights around the house.
“Every farmer and family needs to have a contingency plan including for their workers so they know what to do should there be an attack. The relationship with the workers is also very important because a farmer needs to be aware of where they are and what they doing on the farm, especially if they stay there,” she said.
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