The chairperson of the Tzaneen Chamber of Commerce, Llandi van der Walt, said local businesses are currently taking strain and she has advised people to support local.
Although the agriculture industry was one of the industries that was in demand even during lockdown, it was also affected.
The president of the World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO) Dr Theo de Jager and local farmer said, “nowhere was farming stopped and farmers were allowed to continue with business. It was however not business as usual, as the markets were severely disrupted.”
He said the closure of restaurants, school feeding schemes, canteens and big events caused surpluses of milk, potatoes, exclusive meats and vegetables, and many other products to pile up on farms, and caused waste and losses at the expense of farmers.
He said Mopani district has been lucky to escape the havoc and disruptions caused by the pandemic.
“The citrus industry had a boom like seldom before. The world, and especially the lucrative export markets, saw a spike in demand for vitamin C and healthy foods, taking prices to record levels on the back of a weaker Rand. A flourishing citrus industry has a positive impact on the whole district, with a knock-on effect on many other business sectors,” he said.
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De Jager said very few farmers were directly impacted by the virus or fell sick.
“By the very nature of the farming profession, where farmers and farm workers work mostly outdoors, far from the crowded towns, social distancing is part of everyday life and work. Its the disruption of markets and value chains which caused the damage,” he said.
He added that in townships and communal areas in the district many heads of families who lost their jobs and livelihoods in cities, came back home.
This brough poverty and hunger came on the back of unemployment elsewhere in South Africa.
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“No food was wasted or got stuck on farms around Tzaneen as farmers and farmers’ networks like the Southern African Agri Initiative (SAAI) went to great lengths to get surplus produce from farms to needy families in Bolobedu, Giyani, Selwane, Nkowakowa and Ga-Sekororo. Old age homes and orphanages also benefitted from these programs.”
He said smallholder farmers and beneficiaries of land reform who do not have access to export- or formal local markets suffered.
“The majority of them in the district depend on the informal market of bakkie traders and hawkers to sell their products. Not only is this one of the biggest off takers of fruit, vegetables and chickens from smaller family farms, it is also the key distributor of fresh food in villages and townships,” said De Jager.
According to him the restriction on informal traders really hurt the emerging sector of agriculture in the Mopani district to an extend which will take years to recover losses.
