DA takes up Northern Cape farmers’ drought fight

As the ongoing drought continues to threaten food security and livestock, the Democratic Alliance (DA) Northern Cape provincial leader Andrew Louw and Western Cape minister of agriculture, Dr Ivan Meyer held a meeting with commercial and small-scale farmers from across the province to find a proper plan to deal with the crisis.

Louw said they will increase pressure on the provincial government to implement a 10-year drought support and climate change mitigation plan.

“The situation in the Northern Cape is even worse than in the Western Cape and warrants an immediate intervention on a provincial level, while we continue to wait for the drought to be gazetted as a provincial disaster so that additional funds can be allocated,” Louw said.

On October 4, Deputy President David Mabuza visited Northern Cape with urgent interventions to deal with drought and committed that government would provide urgent relief to the farming community, whose livestock is mostly affected by the drought.

Government has reprioritised about R30 million for immediate intervention in the procurement and distribution of fodder for the farming community as a short-term measure, but AgriSA and the DA said the money was not enough.

“Without the help of AgriSA and other partners, our farmers, their families and farmworkers in the Northern Cape would have been devastated,” said Willem Symington, AgriSA Northern Cape deputy president.

“While we remain grateful for the R30 million allocated to the Northern Cape by the deputy president earlier this year, the reality is that this money is just a drop in the ocean,” Louw said.

Louw said the Northern Cape was experiencing drought more severe than in any other part of the country.

“This is critical because even if the Northern Cape has three years of good rain, it will take another seven years to recover from this crippling drought,” said Louw.

It is estimated that the drought has led to more than 62,000 job losses in various parts of the agricultural production chain.

The Western Cape provincial cabinet pledged R50 million relief coupons to be handed to farmers in dire need.

“The Western Cape government has also made available an additional R100 000 for farmer support, which very importantly includes emotional, psychological and pastoral support to the many farmers who find themselves in dark times, some of whom have even committed suicide,” Meyer said.

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