Govt must help our drought-stricken farmers

Whether you point the finger at climate change or whether you say prolonged dry spells come with the territory in a semi-arid Southern Africa, you cannot deny that the ongoing drought is strangling many rural areas across our country.

There have been heart-rending scenes of dry dams and dying animals in provinces like the Eastern Cape and Limpopo, but the situation is just as dire in KwaZulu-Natal, North West, Northern Cape and the Free State. Most of the country desperately needs rain.

Experts like agricultural economist Wandile Sihlobo are still cautiously optimistic, based on medium and long-term weather forecasts, which are predicting decent rainfall between November and January in the summer rainfall areas.

Sihlobo believes this will enable dry-land crops to be planted so that there will be little disruption to the harvests next year. In recent years, though, the rains have been seemingly arriving later and later, meaning crop farmers do not have enough rainy weather to produce at full capacity.

The livestock industry, too, has been especially hard hit, with thousands of animals dying countrywide.

Farmers’ groups and charities have got together to supply emergency feed for livestock farmers in the worst-hit areas. And while this is an encouraging sign of a community helping itself, there is a case to be made for government aid for those in desperate need.

Although there are many other places the government needs to spend money, helping out agriculture is an investment in the future.

Farmers are the people who feed us – now and in the future. They are also providers of significant numbers of jobs and help moderate the urban drift which is denuding our platteland of people and opportunities.

Helping farmers through this tough time makes economic sense.

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