Commercial farmers in drought stricken areas battling to survive
18 July 2016
Agri SA’s office is currently inundated with calls for drought relief assistance from very desperate commercial and emerging farmers. We therefore call on the corporate sector and public to contribute financially to the Agri SA drought relief fund in order to finance the purchasing of feed pellets and the transportation thereof to farmers in need.
Another big concern to Agri SA is the fact that more and more highly productive and successful commercial farmers are struggling to make ends meet. We appeal to our commercial banks and agri businesses to find ways and means to prevent large scale bankruptcies amongst these farmers. We also appeal to government for assistance as these farmers have played a crucial role to produce food on a large scale for the commercial market.
It’s especially farmers in parts of the Northern Cape, Free State and North West, Eastern Cape and Western Cape that face a severe crisis currently and who are in desperate need for financial assistance. They can no longer afford to buy animal feed and lack the cash flow to keep farm operations going. Boreholes on many farms are also starting to dry up and animals are busy dying. Farm workers and their families also have a desperate need for humanitarian assistance.
The continuous devastating impact of the drought in parts of South Africa do have a very negative and destructive effect on the socio-economic fiber of many rural communities. Losing more and more of our commercial farmers who are the backbone of economic growth and job creation will just exacerbate the conditions of poverty and unemployment.