Many provinces are still recovering from the devastation extreme weather had caused recently, now the South African Weather Service (SAWS) has issued a warning that there is more to come. Farmers should prepare for cold to snow-like weather conditions in most parts of the country.
Elizabeth Viljoen from the SAWS said a strong cold front is expected to reach the Western Cape on Friday evening and move eastwards. The cold front is expected to bring showers, rains, strong winds, cold temperatures, damaging waves, and possibly snow.
The areas that will be hardest hit are eastern parts of the Cape Winelands and Central Karoo, Southern Namakwa, Saldanha Bay, Cape Agulhas, Port Edward, Sarah Baartman District Municipality, western parts of the Chris Hani District Municipality, Joe Gqabi District Municipality, eastern parts of Chris Hani District Municipality, and Amahlathi, Raymond Mhlaba, Matatiele, Umzimmvubu, and Dr Beyers Naude Local Municipalities.
Banking on fertiliser
“It is usually very difficult for us,” said Western Cape crop farmer from Abalimi Bezekhaya Babalwa Mapiyeli. “We will use organic fertiliser to keep the crops warm and not get affected too much.”
Mapiyeli believes the best way to avoid diseases on crops, is to make sure that the soil has enough fertiliser and organic substances to make it stronger.
However, production might be threatened due to the lack of farmworker availability in cold winter conditions.
“It’s not easy to work in cold conditions because it’s freezing, especially elderly farmworkers who tend to stay home from the cold and sometimes this reduces production,” said Mpayeli.
Poultry farmers get ready for the cold
Pretoria based poultry farmer Mikie Mkhatha says as a poultry farmer, extremely cold weather conditions affect her badly because chickens need moderate temperatures to grow. This means that as a poultry farmer, she needs to have measures in place to prevent any mortalities.
The way she prepares is to create an extra budget to accommodate additional gas to maintain the expected room or floor temperature, or through the use of extra electricity usage for underfloor heating.
“Furthermore, I keep them warm, give them all their necessary vaccines and medication to prevent illnesses such as Newcastle [disease],” she said.
“Extremely cold weather conditions bring a lot of stress to farmers in general as sometimes financially you are not prepared for all the adjustments that come with it. As a result, you end up losing your livestock.”
Pressing the pause button
“Sometimes, farmers will choose to pause during a particular season to avoid all the stress that comes with such weather, but at the same time you are losing money,” Mkhatha expressed.
She added that she has had to slaughter a few chickens prematurely. “For this cycle, I have to take very few chickens and close other chicken houses because of the weather. We could not keep up with the weather. In the last cycle, I had to use an extra four bottles of gas, 13kg which cost a lot.”
“That is why I decided to go with one chicken house for this cycle. Now I am slaughtering them to reduce unnecessary mortalities that might be caused by the cold. It’s very challenging to farm livestock during this cold weather.”
Take preventative measures
Meanwhile, meteorologist Dr Peter Johnston from the University of Cape Town said that cold winters are part of the SA climate and there is a natural variability with some winters being colder or warmer than others.
“When we have frontal systems that come inland as we expect this weekend, extremely cold conditions with snow on high ground are possible,” he said.
He advised farmers to make sure their animals are protected against extreme weather.
“This naturally is a threat to livestock, especially young animals and Angora goats. It is always advisable for farmers to offer shelter where they can and check on the animals before dark and again in the morning.
“For crops, unless they have already been harvested, some may be affected by frost. Sometimes spraying water or chemicals can help, but there’s not much else that can be done. Unfortunately, agriculture is exposed to these extremes from time to time,” Johnston said.
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