Snowfall. Photographer Ayanda Ndamane/ Independent Newspapers
THE FARMING community, especially small- scale farmers are still counting the costs from last month's devastating weather, and are now looking up to government for assistance.
African Farmers Association (Afasa) KwaZulu-Natal Chairperson Mbongeni Skhakhane said they were hoping that government would respond swiftly to the plight of farmers, noting how many of their members had lost everything.
“Our members have lost their cattle, sheep and poultry as well as crops and they are really in a desperate position. That is why we hope that our government can respond quickly and provide relief to enable them to get back to business,” said Skhakhane.
He was worried that the losses suffered might have an impact on food prices as some of the crops were ready for harvesting.
“There are instances of potato farmers that were just weeks away from harvesting, and have now been dealt this setback of frost which has damaged the yield. This means that with less commodities in the market prices may go up, especially with the festive season not so far away,” said Skhakhane.
Noluthando Khumalo, a pepper farmer from Impendle, in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands said she was still cleaning up following the snow in late September that destroyed her vegetables.
She said the snow had damaged the crop farming infrastructure as well as the yield. As a regular supplier to the vegetable markets in Pietermaritzburg, Khumalo said the snow had negatively impacted on her profit margin as she would need to repair the infrastructure before planting again.
“This basically means that I am starting all over again when the pepper crop was so near harvesting,” said Khumalo.
Several other farmers, especially emerging ones, lost everything and were worried that they will not be able to recover as many of them do not have insurance.
According to the Afasa chairperson, Khumalo was one of many farmers across the province that had been left with nothing.
Khumalo said that they were likely to get a clearer picture on the number of affected members in the coming days.
KwaZulu-Natal Agriculture spokesperson Vusi Zuma said that they were still receiving reports of the farmers that had been affected by the weather in many parts of KZN.
“What we do know at the moment is that it was not only the farmers from the Midlands that were affected, but we have cases from as far as Newcastle and Zululand District of farmers that either lost crops or their livestock, said Zuma.
He said that once the report had been concluded, the MEC for Agriculture would make an announcement on both the extent of the damage and the relief to be provided to the affected farmers.
“I can tell you that at the moment we are looking at millions of rands in damages and losses suffered owing to the weather,” said Zuma.