The fire season has started, with farmers in some parts of the country reporting infrastructure damage and loss of livestock. Beyond the immediate devastation, these fires could result in job losses and many years of trying to rebuild.
Free State Agriculture commercial manager Jack Armour said whenever the fire season happens, communities suffer, and generational wealth is destroyed.
He said there are often deaths and severe health impacts and injuries. “Small-scale farmers may never really recover and end up selling to bigger farmers, perpetuating our rural economy decline.
“Local fire protection associations (FPAs) remain the backbone of first on scene prevention; FPAs need to be up to date with their registration and documents submitted to the department of environmental affairs. Being part of an umbrella FPA, although not compulsory, can assist to reduce the administrative burden of this matter,” he said.
Partnerships are important in disaster relief
Armour raised another critical point of affordability. He noted that when farmers join FPAs, there could be money involved, but it can help them in terms of burning firebreaks.
“It’s not really affordable to insure your grazing against veld fires, but most farmers do insure their vehicles and houses or sheds, etc.
“When fighting fires, farm vehicles go through a lot, including damaged tyres, shocks and bodywork damage due to the off-road riding with adrenaline pumping to save property and lives, which is not covered by insurance,” he explained.
In addressing public-private partnerships in dealing with fire outbreaks, he said the government is not much of a partner in terms of disaster funding relief for commercial farmers, as relief is issued on a sliding scale with small-scale farmers benefiting proportionally more than bigger farmers.
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“Well, this is acceptable in terms of basic survival and helping get the small guy back on his feet again, while the big farmer who has 1 000 head of cattle and maybe lost 500 still has 500, so can carry on. But the financial knock on his business may force him/her to reduce labour,” Armour said.
Soil scientist Hamond Motsi said when it comes to soil health, the fire has a huge impact that could last for years if not taken care of in a proactive way.
Impact on grazing land and soil health
“For the land to recover, it depends on the type of plants. If it is in the grasslands, I think it quickly recovers; like when it rains, the grass is always in the soil, so they will recover.
“Repeated fires will have long-term effects on biodiversity because if they continuously happen each and every year, we will end up having less plants growing. This will affect grazing for animals,” he said.
Motsi noted that fires which end up impacting agriculture have a ripple effect, as farmers are left with no choice but to buy more feed as there is no more grass for grazing.
“Fire is definitely not good for agriculture and farmers, and there is no other way; farmers need to keep in place mitigation and adaptation or preventative measures such as fire belts,” he said.
A farmer from North West who did not want to be named said they were fighting veld fires by themselves with no help from the government as resources are either limited or not fully equipped.
“The fire department in our local municipality (Tswaing Local Municipality) has failed us a lot; we are fighting this on our own. We appreciate the efforts done by fire associations, which have been our fellow fighters in many instances,” the farmer said.
Meanwhile, North West MEC of agriculture Madoda Sambatha said that the government and relevant law enforcement agencies are aware that there were instances where fire was being set deliberately.
“The deliberate set of fires is not only irresponsible but also a criminal act that places our farmers, livestock, natural resources and food security at risk.
“These fires destroy grazing land, kill livestock, threaten biodiversity and leave farming communities facing enormous financial losses,” he said.
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