Concerns raised as criminals target vulnerable farms when load shedding hits

Farmers will have to make a plan to keep the agriculture sector growing amid the unpredictable power supply and the constant load shedding in South Africa.

Agri SA executive director Christo Van der Rheede said the disruptive load shedding posed long-term risks to the agricultural sector and economy.

Van der Rheede said the extended period of stage 6 load shedding threatened the viability of the sector.

“An escalation to stage 7 and higher would be catastrophic and posed a risk to the country’s national security,” he said.

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Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng spokesperson for agriculture, rural development and environment, Ina Cilliers, also said load shedding poses a real threat to national security.

“All the ingredients are certainly there, given the right combination of poverty, anger and desperation,” she said.

Cilliers said she had hope in South Africans to pull through.

“We are a resilient bunch,” she added. Southern African Agricultural Initiative (Saai) chair Dr Theo de Jager said there were two sides to the coin.

“We have not had food insecurity since World War II,” he said.

De Jager said the country has been a net exporter with products competing on worldwide shelves.

“That was why load shedding hits us hard because to comply with international standards, we needed electricity and water. “Now we have farms without power for up to nine hours.”

De Jager said farmers were complaining about replacing equipment and pump pipes damaged from the frequent power cuts. “We want the opportunity to farm with electricity.

“We need a mind shift from the energy providers to purchasing energy from farmers to assist with power.

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“We have the space for solar, wind and water energy,” he said.

TLU region manager in Free State and the North West Jannie Raath said the load shedding impacted the fresh produce market the most.

“Farmers had to keep fruit cool during the power cuts and run silos which used a lot of electricity,” he said.

Raath said farmers now had to plan around load shedding because running a generator fulltime was simply uneconomical.

He added dairy farms were most affected because they needed power for the machines and equipment.

“Farmers compete on a world market against countries that don’t have power cuts and shortages,” he said.

Free State Agriculture (FSA) Rural Safety chairperson Jakkels le Roux said the biggest problem with load shedding was safety.

“When the power goes out, the cameras go off and so does the signal,” he said.

Le Roux said criminals have started picking up on the power outages and targeting vulnerable farms.

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He added it was getting more expensive to run the generators after the recent diesel increase.

“We are currently working on the lands and when the power goes out, it has an impact on the equipment and the silos.

“If you didn’t have a generator, you stand and wait for the power to return,” he said.

Andre Jansen van Rensburg who farms outside Bultfontein en Hertzogville, said he went off Eskom’s grid six months ago.

“It’s like magic,” he said. Le Roux said the load shedding still affected the cellphone and internet signals.