Nompumelelo Magwaza
UNLESS rain falls soon a drought in parts of South Africa could hit the sugar and maize crops as well as cattle farms, which in turn could have a negative impact on food prices.
Farmers are casting their eyes at the sky in hope of rain in the next two weeks that would avert a drought that could have devastating impact on the economy.
So far, maize farmers in western-northern Free-State and some parts of North West province have reported signs of below average rainfall for the 2015/16 planting season.
The price of white maize on the JSE rose R65 a ton yesterday to close at R2 044 a ton.
KwaZulu-Natal produces a large portion of South Africa’s sugar cane crop and has been the hardest hit. In response to this, the national Department of Water and Sanitation has pledged more than R350 million in emergency relief to KwaZulu-Natal.
Sugar-producing companies in the province, Tongaat Hulett and Illovo, have either shut-down some of their mills or have postponed mill start-up dates. As a result of the drought, Illovo has decided not to open its Umzimkhulu mill in the 2015 sugar milling season and diverted all cane meant for this mill to the Sezala mill.
Michelle Jean-Louis, a Tongaat Hullet spokesperson, said yesterday that the rainfall in the province’s cane catchment areas for the past year had been below average, consequently impacting the sugar cane yields for the forthcoming season.
“At this time, it has been agreed that the start-up date for the Darnall mill, which has been most impacted by poor rainfall, will be delayed from April to July or August this year.”
Jean-Louis said employees from the mill were temporarily assigned to other mills until normal operations resumed.
Maize
Jannie de Villiers, the chief executive at Grain SA, said he had noted with concern the impact drought has had in KwaZulu-Natal, but the province only produces about 4 percent of the country’s maize crop on average.
“The big worry for South Africa is the north-western Free State which was also experiencing some dry season.”
About 90 percent of the maize in the country is produced between Mpumalanga, Free State and North West.
Johan van der Berg, a manager in specialised crop insurance at Santam Agriculture, said the rain pattern was different from other seasons.
“In this season most of January had a below average rainfall and the extreme high temperatures in some areas also added to the dry weather.”
He said the most affected areas at this stage were the north-western Free-State and some of the eastern parts of North West and some parts of Mpumalanga.
“These are heartlands of the food production areas in the country.”
Van der Berg also warned that if there was not sufficient rain this week, “then there can be some serious situation in terms of the summer crop”.
KwaZulu-Natal produces only 15 percent of the country’s red meat. Red Meat Producers’ Organisation chief executive Gerhard Schutte said the red meat industry was very dependent on natural resources.