Farmers in several parts of South Africa are expecting harvesting delays amid a major heatwave set to last until Friday. Many describe this as a “devastating blow” after months without rain.
This comes after the South African Weather Service (SAWS) warned people in parts of Limpopo, North West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Free State to rather stay indoors between 11:00 and 15:00. Extremely hot and dry conditions are currently experienced.
“A heatwave with persistent hot temperatures is expected over Gauteng, [the] Highveld areas of Mpumalanga, northern parts of the Free State and the south-western bushveld of Limpopo until Friday,” said SAWS.
Farm production severely impacted
A Limpopo-based deciduous fruit farmer, Dibesho Serage, told Food For Mzansi that ongoing load shedding was adding insult to injury. The irrigation system used on the farm was now also being impacted.
“Now you have a problem of a heatwave that is combined with load shedding. Our irrigation programme is seriously affected. We can water the [land] as much as we would want to [but] the heat is drying the ground very quickly.
“When the heat continues without us irrigating, it ripens the fruit very quickly. We are now experiencing fruit that softens while it is still on the ground because of this. Some of us do not have shade nets, so that is why we can feel the heat so directly,” Serage explained.
With power cuts, it is also extremely difficult to execute the company’s irrigation plan, impacting harvesting estimations.
“Water plays a huge part in the size of the fruit, so because we cannot irrigate and because it is too hot, the trees are taking a knock. This will lead to the fruits not being of good quality.
“This is slowing the average size of the fruit because of no water, and the heat. When you harvest the fruit is ripe, but small. It is not of a marketable size. This leads to a loss and one cannot even break even. It is a tough one,” he said.
Too hot to work
Meanwhile, Free State grain farmer Pheladi Matsole told Food For Mzansi that the heat wave was also crippling production. Workers are struggling to execute their duties in the scorching heat.
“It is time to till soil, and nobody can work on the soil when it’s too dry. Grazing should be on initial stage. We don’t see that happening because we haven’t received even first rains yet. This will impact our financial standing tremendously because everything is being delayed. We are going to plant late,” he said.
‘We need rain‘
A Gauteng-based farmer, Bayanda Maseko, faced a similar dilemma. “The heatwave affects our maize crop. Because of lack of rain, our planting season can be highly affected if we do not get enough rain,” he explained.
In North West, poultry farmer Kobedi Pilane added, “Extreme weather changes could be devastating to the farmers. Some are losing their entire produce. We are about to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of our farmers’ association, Afasa.
“We have seen submissions of some of the provincial resolutions demanding energy security and some assistance from government to subsidise smallholder farmers affected by extreme weather conditions due to climate change.”
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