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oelofsej@avusa.co.za

THE price of vegetables, milk and even beer could increase soon as Southern Cape farmers continue to buckle under unrelenting drought conditions.

Dairy farmers, who produce about a quarter of the country’s milk, have had to reduce their herds to afford fodder while hops farmers, who supply 95% of SA Breweries’ needs for beer making, are facing a 200-ton loss.

Even vegetable farmers have stopped planting and fewer seasonal workers are being employed for planting and harvesting.

Yesterday, Western Cape Department of Water Affairs chief director Rashid Khan visited the area to meet with municipalities and farmers.

His spokesman Marianne Claassen said some of the issues discussed included the limits placed on farmers to abstract water from rivers and dams, and how to monitor their abstraction.

Currently there is a 70% water restriction on farmers who abstract, which leaves them only 30% of what they would normally have consumed.

“If the 30% is used up, farmers simply have to do without water for the rest of the year. This excludes the water allocation for household use and the special allocation of 10 cubic meters of water for use in dairies,” Agri Wes-Cape said spokesman Portia Adams.

The Southern Cape, a predominantly rural area, has been short of water for two years, although the drought’s effects intensified at the beginning of last year as rivers started running dry and dam levels dropped steadily.

Home to farming practices that include viticulture, fruit, dairy, livestock and hops, farmers say they’ve been battling to survive.

Adams said irrigation dams were either empty or had very low levels.

“The little water that is left in the irrigation dams is being utilised for stock drinking water and most farmers are transporting water from other farmers in the region that still have a bit to share.”

She said dairy and stock farmers were forced to buy fodder at a cost that they had not budgeted for. If the costly stock feeding programme could not be sustained, it could push up the price of milk.

The Western Cape produces about 25% of the country’s milk, of which the Southern Cape and Swartland areas are the biggest.

“Many stock farmers decreased their number of animals because they couldn’t afford to keep them any longer and in most cases the stock died because of the continuous hot conditions and low levels of water and feed supplies,” Adams said.

Some vegetable farmers had stopped planting and production has declined dramatically because of the lack of irrigation.

In a knock-on effect, employment of farm labourers had also decreased.

“Farmers have taken out bonds on their property to help cover the increasing costs in an attempt to sustain their farming practices,” Adams said.

The Western Cape Department of Agriculture has made some money available to stock farmers for transporting animal feed to the region.

Adams said Agri Wes-Cape had also applied for disaster relief but were still awaiting an answer. The process, she said, was lengthy and even if successful, it would not bring immediate relief.

“Dairy farmers are experiencing huge financial losses because they can no longer irrigate and grow pastures to feed their stock,” Jack Rubin of Lancewood dairy farm in Hoekwil said.

He called on the government to modify the water laws because if farmers could not secure more water in existing or new dams, they would not survive.

Plettenberg Bay farmer Rikus Truter said farmers upstream along the Keurbooms river were only extracting from Monday to Thursday to allow those downstream to benefit from their full abstraction limits.

“It is bad for farmers. If you cut off an irrigation farmer’s water it is like closing down his business. Some guys who’ve lived here all their lives tell me they’ve never seen it this dry. If you don’t irrigate, there’s not a blade of green grass in sight.”

The Knysna Farmers’ Association has suggested the capacity of existing farm dams be increased so that more water could be accumulated during the rainy season to accommodate longer drought periods.

Plettenberg Bay Winegrower’s Association chairman Peter Thorpe said with harvest time coming up in February and March, the dry weather was good for viticulture as it concentrated the flavours of the grape. He added that viticulture was also not water intensive.

SA Breweries Hop Farms general manager Laurie Conway said yields could be significantly affected by the drought, with R9-million in losses expected. “The plants grow very quickly over a short period and any lack of critical inputs such as water would have a significant affect on end results.”

Each plant uses about 10 litres per day at its peak growing period, equal to about 30mm of rainfall or irrigation per week.

Although none of the Garden Route municipalities provide water to farms, rural connections on smallholdings are facing the same domestic restrictions as their town counterparts. Most smallholdings have private boreholes.

In George, farming consumption happens down river and does not affect the town’s water supply. Bitou is also not affected by farming consumption from the rivers, but has a water sharing agreement for the Roodefontein dam with the Jakkalskraal dairy farm.

Golf estates have to use recycled waste water and have implemented water saving measures such as planting drought resistant species.