The Western Cape’s agricultural producers are bracing themselves for “significant long-term impacts in high-value export industries” – such as the pome and stone fruit industries – which could lose up to R300 million in income losses with current water shortages in the region.
The pome and stone fruit producers are already reporting lowered export volumes compared to last year, said Alan Winde, minister of economic opportunities for the Western Cape.
Delivering the opening address at the release of the latest analysis from the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) Baseline 2017-2026 report on Friday, Winde pointed out that
while some summer rainfall agricultural regions – such as the Free State, North West and Mpumalanga – were in recovery from the drought, the situation remained critical in the Western Cape.
The BFAP Baseline is jointly funded the Western Cape Department of Agriculture and ABSA Agribusiness. It offers projections for the sector under a set of potential scenarios.
“BFAP’s analysis also illustrates the importance of irrigation schemes during this period, highlighting that in the Berg River and Riversonderend irrigation schemes 36 000 jobs would be placed under threat without access to water,” said Winde.
