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Drought declared as national disaster of critical importance
The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Des van Rooyen's announcement to declare eight provinces as drought disaster areas together with the motion adopted by parliament to declare the drought as a national disaster lay the basis for comprehensive financial humanitarian aid by the government.
Tim via Wikimedia Commons
This is now of critical importance to ensure food security for every household. In this regard government and organised agriculture have an instrumental role to fulfill to optimise sustainable food production by and retention of jobs in the agricultural sector of these provinces as well as to protect producers' production base and thereby retaining South Africa's food security status.
The next planting season is around the corner and government assistance is urgently required to enable farmers to plant on a large scale during the new planting season. Livestock losses have also occurred and it is also important to rebuild livestock herds over the next 12 to 18 months. Financing is also required to assist farmers with their carry-over debt. This will enable them to recover quickly and to start with production after the drought.
A major concern is the Western Cape, where the expected rainfall in the Swartland and West Coast region have not materialised yet. A shortage of fodder during the winter in summer rainfall areas pose an additional challenge which can be mitigated with the government assistance.
Agri SA, therefore, calls on the government to provide financial assistance to farmers as soon as possible. Organised agriculture wants to be part of these efforts to get fodder and other forms of humanitarian aid to farms as effective and efficiently as possible. Agri SA has been actively mobilising the general public and private sector since November 2015 to donate fodder and other forms of humanitarian aid. 20,000 commercial and emerging farmers were assisted thus far. With the help of the retail sector, food hampers and bottled water were also distributed to farm worker communities.
A well-coordinated effort and cooperation between all stakeholders are now needed to mitigate food shortages and socio-social crises. Farmers should however not lose hope because a notable weakening of the El Niño weather phenomena is forecasted by weather experts.
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