Vegetable crop production in the drought-ravaged Gamtoos River Valley – one of SA’s leading citrus and vegetable growing regions – has been cut by a massive 60% due to the ongoing water scarcity.
But the cut in the production of potatoes, cauliflower, lettuce and broccoli is not the only plight to hit the valley.
While citrus growers battle to keep their trees alive, dairy farmers in the Mondplaas area are having to sell off vast tracts of land just to stay afloat, to cover the costs of buying expensive cattle feed while their grazing land lies barren due to the lack of water to irrigate.
Gamtoos Irrigation Board chair Tertius Meyer has called on the department of water and sanitation to ease agricultural water quotas as a matter of urgency – from the current 40% water quota restriction imposed on the about 200 farmers who draw from the Kouga Dam, to at least 60% of their full annual allocation.
“Farmers are not coping with the current annual quotas – it is way too little,” Meyer said, adding that rains in November should have resulted in a realistic increase of water quotas.
“Now farmers are having to decide whether to not plant any of these cash crops at all [due to the lack of water], which many have chosen to do, to plant fewer cash crops, or to sell up and move somewhere else.”
Valley farmer Noel le Roux described the situation as “truly critical”.
Already, Le Roux has had to cut his staff complement from 200 to 160 and will shortly be forced to make a difficult decision – whether to retrench more with the possibility of reemploying them at a later stage when the water crisis eases. “It’s a tragedy,” he said. “Breadwinners are losing their jobs and, while I try to help the affected families, there is only so much I can do with the farm’s dwindling income.”
Fewer crops grown in the valley meant consumers could end up paying more for produce imported from outside the region, he said.
In the valley, vegetable production traditionally fills the months without citrus – November to February – but, because of the drought, many farmers have had to opt out of vegetable production entirely.
“There are only five farms in the valley producing vegetables right now. Obviously, that is not enough,” Le Roux said.
Citrus farmer Pieter Ferreira said his production had also dropped, and he too had been forced to lay off staff.
“I try to keep my permanent workers on, but when it comes to fruit picking time, fewer seasonal workers will be needed [due to the lower yields].
“My production has dropped quite dramatically, and we will certainly be exporting a lot less fruit than usual,” he said.
Both Ferreira and Le Roux concur that, with the level of the Kouga Dam rising to 49.44% from 47.91% after 18.5mm of rain fell in the catchment area recently, the ideal solution would be to raise water quotas.
“More water is the only solution. Having more water will benefit everyone – and, for the sake of the unemployed, the sooner this happens the better,” Ferreira said.
Exacerbating the problem is the fact that, while summer temperatures have been in the normal range, the wind has not, blowing consistently and strongly, and pushing farmers’ ability to minimise water usage to the limit.
“Right now, water is extremely precious. We have to make every single drop count,” Ferreira said.
Dairy farmer Manis Meyer said the cost of feeding the 2,000 cows on his farm had increased by 100%.
Meyer said the allocated 40% water quota given to his farm near Mondplaas had already been depleted by the end of January.
“Since February 1, I have not been able to irrigate anything, which means I have been forced to purchase roughage at R3,000 per ton.
“If we had water, and I was able to produce the feed myself, it would cost R1,500 per ton. “It’s been very tough.
“At the moment I am trying to keep all the staff I already have employed, but if things carry on the way they are – this won’t be the case indefinitely.
“The little bit of rain we received recently will be helpful for grazing, but only for next month, not now,” Meyer said.
The selling price of the milk produced was only affected by supply and demand, he said.
“This means profits are negatively affected because the costs increase.
“It does not mean we can charge more for the product.”
Gamtoos Irrigation Board finance and human resources head Rienette Colesky said the board would be writing a letter to the department asking to have the restrictions eased.
Colesky said the current model to determine the restrictions was highly scientific but the board was continuously in discussions with the department to raise the limit.
“From the department’s side it has been decided that there will be a relook at the model.
“We speak to them every month with regards to restrictions and we have been tasked mainly by the vegetable farmers to approach the department again.
“We will write a letter soon to ask them to reconsider the restrictions, especially considering the vegetable farmers need to plant now,” she said.