Is loadshedding a threat to agriculture and food security?

17 January 2023

Attention broadcasters: Find English and Afrikaans audio clips from MPP Andricus van der Westhuizen attached.

The DA in the Western Cape is immensely concerned about the impact loadshedding has on agricultural production in the province.

There are numerous aspects of crop farming which require electricity, not least of which is the pumping of water to irrigate.

With loadshedding constantly at high levels, it is becoming increasingly difficult, and expensive, for farmers to adapt and still have proper harvests.

The effects of this are relatively easy to predict, and our citizens will have to deal with higher food prices, and in a worst-case scenario, there simply might not be enough food to go around.

MPP Andricus van der Westhuizen said, “Eskom has already crippled the urban economy, with no end in to this destruction in sight, and the same cannot be allowed to happen our province’s flourishing agricultural economy.

According to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey, the agricultural sector employs around 200 000 people in the Western Cape. With jobs as scarce as they are, the DA will not stand by while these families and livelihoods are seriously threatened.

I will be submitting questions to the Provincial Department of Agriculture to determine what support is available to farmers in the Western Cape to ensure that job losses are minimised and food security does not come under threat.”

Issued by Andricus van der Westhuizen, DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Agriculture, 17 January 2023