AgriSA Northern Cape’s Willem Symington said areas in the Cape had been so drastically affected by the drought that a disaster declaration should have been handed out more than a year ago.
“At this stage, it would not be necessary to declare a national disaster, but provincially, in the Western Cape, the Eastern Cape, the Northern Cape and in the Limpopo area, a disaster declaration should have been done more than a year ago,” said Symington.
The drought has seen feeding options for wildlife and livestock become scarcer, pushing farmers to send their animals to slaughter prematurely, or run the risk of seeing their animals die of starvation.
And according to Adri Kitshoff-Botha of Wildlife Ranching SA, the drought over the past six years has led to an estimated loss of 80% in wildlife numbers in the Northern Cape.
Gerhard Schutte of the Red Meat Producers’ Organisation, said the drought did not only affect livestock, but it also the farmers who had to tend these animals, with some farmers reporting a decline of 30% in herd numbers.
