No krag to cause no kos
PRICE OF FAILURE: Agri SA warns of food shorts
South Africa faces a food shortage crisis and skyrocketing kos prices if load shedding continues for much longer.
This was the warning from Agri SA, who said that should the government fail to solve the Eskom problem soon, mense can expect crop failure, higher food prices and shortages of certain food products in the near future.
Christo van der Rheede, the agricultural organisation’s executive director, said load shedding had more than doubled between January and September last year compared to the same period in 2021.
“As a result of this catastrophe, the agricultural sector lost more than R23 billion during the nine-month period under review,” he explained.
Given the magnitude of the threat, Agri SA said it had submitted a letter to the National Disaster Management Centre which details the far-reaching implications of load shedding for grains, livestock, poultry, fruit, vegetables, sugar, edible oils and others.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is due to deliver his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Wednesday.
Van der Rheede said: “While load shedding cannot be fixed overnight, there are critical short-term measures that can be put in place to mitigate its impact on food security.”
Among others, Agri SA wants Ramaphosa to declare the agricultural sector and associated value chain an essential service, partially exempt the sector from load shedding, and allow for higher rebates on diesel and petrol used for electricity generation.
Agri SA said that unless these measures were implemented, the country faces a catastrophe.
It said farming operations would be disrupted as equipment was damaged because of power failures.
“At the same time, meat producers will be unable to pump water for their cattle or to slaughter and process their livestock and poultry. Agro-processing and retail will also suffer as packing and cooling operations fail. The result of all this for food affordability and availability will be devastating.”