Agriculture
(a) To what extent has the present drought affected the production of deciduous fruit and job opportunities in the fruit industry in the Klein Karoo and specifically in the Hoeko Valley in the Kannaland municipal area and (b) how long will it take for the deciduous fruit industry in these areas to recover when historical rainfall patterns return?
(a)Feedback from the deciduous fruit producers in the Klein Karoo and in the Hoeko Valley in the Kannaland Municipality indicate that due to the prolonged drought and the scarcity of available irrigation water, between 15% to 80% (30% on average) of fruit trees on farms died. Production of the remaining orchards are at 50% to 75% of normal production levels. The combined effect is that production on farms in the region are at between 35% and 50% of normal production levels.
Due to reduced cash flow, farmers have to cut back on expenses, some farms have reduced the number of workdays per week and the layoff of permanent workers is considered.
As the regional economy is primarily dependent on agriculture, the drought further impacts on declining consumer spending negatively impacting all businesses and job creation.
The estimated seasonal job losses in Hoeko is 000 and for Kanaland 2000.
The Balmoral farm, comprising of five farms of which three is situated in Hoeko, lost
1 82 permanent workers and 350 seasonal jobs.
(b)Under normal rainfall conditions the surviving orchards will take about 3 years to recover to full production, this is subject to the farmers being able to raise the required cash or credit for needed input costs.
To reestablish new orchards it will take 10 to 15 years, mainly due to the huge capital investment required. During the first three years after planting before the trees come in production, the required investment costs is in the order [2550 000/ha for apricots and (2795 000/ha for plums.
For farmers the feasibility and raising of additional capital is a challenge as debt of current operations are at a maximum and the price of produce dropped i.e.
peach prices dropped from R4 800/ton (2017) to R3 800/ton (2018).
