Assignment 5

Drought stalks SA crops and economy

04 SEP 2015 00:00 LYNLEY DONNELLY

The weak rand and lack of rain are increasing farmers' input costs, which

will largely be passed on in the form of an increase in food prices.

If you thought being a miner was tough, try being a farmer.

South Africa’s food producers are battling drought and rising input costs, thanks to a weak rand. And this spells

further pain for consumers as food prices rise.

The drought, which began in earnest in February, has severely affected the country’s 2014-2015 harvest, especially

summer crops such as maize (both white and yellow varieties) sunflowers, soya beans, groundnuts, sorghum and dry

beans.

According to Wandile Sihlobo, an economist at GrainSA, the drought is expected to result in a 29% decrease of this

basket of summer crops from the previous year.

For individual crops such as maize, which is directly linked to staple foods like mealie-meal, the picture is even

worse.

Last year’s maize output was about 14.3-million tonnes. This year it is expected to shrink to 9.8-million tonnes, a

31% drop, he said.

The sunflower seed harvest, which provides oil and contributes to animal feed, sees a drop from 832 000 tonnes last

year to an expected 656 800 tonnes. Soya bean output reached more than a million tonnes for the first time this

season because of an increase in the number of hectares planted, he added.

But, although the hectares planted increased by 37%, the total output only grew by 10%.

“If not for the drought, we would have seen a much larger increase,” Sihlobo said.

The most recent gross domestic product (GDP) figures revealed that the agricultural sector had contracted by more

than 17% quarter on quarter, largely because of the drought’s effects.

This is expected to put pressure on food prices, with hikes likely in everything from maize and grains to meat,

poultry and dairy products.

There was a lag of about three to four months before increases in prices were...