Karoo locust plague adds to farmers’ woes

It has been a challenging year for farmers who have survived a global pandemic, stood up against farm murders, fought off wildfires in the Free State and now have to worry about the locust plague in the Karoo.

Sina Luchen, regional agriculturalist for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, said they were aware of the outbreak of brown locusts in the Karoo.

“We have sent a report to the government to confirm the outbreak in two districts in the Eastern Cape.”

Luchen said brown locusts posed a threat to maize and barley crops. Roger Price, a former specialist locust researcher and current research team manager at the Agricultural Research Council, said these locusts were all over Africa, with recent outbreaks in East Africa and Malawi.

“The wet conditions bring grass and allow the locusts to breed and feed.”

Price said a locust outbreak could cause great crop and economic loss.

“It is especially dangerous if they spread to other Free State areas and North West as they are difficult to control.”

The lockdown regulations also had damaged agricultural outcomes, with the wine sector nearly coming to a standstill due to the strict regulations on reopening the sector.

On Thursday, Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber, said South Africa’s primary agricultural employment in the third quarter of the year improved 1% from the previous quarter to 807,882.

“This corresponds with the reopening of the economy and certain agricultural commodities during that period.”

Compared with the corresponding period last year, he said employment in this sector was down 8%.

“The Western and Northern Cape provinces, the major wine producers, saw employment fall by 31% and 15% quarter-on-quarter, respectively. On an annual basis, the Western and Northern Cape’s primary agriculture employment fell by 37% and 8%, respectively.”

He said had there not been a pandemic, agricultural employment would have risen notably this year on the back of a large harvest.

“Looking ahead, the agricultural sector is poised for another good year on the back of an expected La Nina. This means there will be increased activity in the sector, which would sustain employment, at least at levels above 750 000, in our view.”

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