Rising electricity, fuel and fertiliser costs are forcing South African farmers to lay off workers, produce less and absorb thinner margins, small-scale and commercial producers told Food for Mzansi.

Liewellyn Louw, a poultry farmer in the Free State, said electricity is essential for heating, ventilation and lighting to keep his birds healthy, so every tariff increase pushes up production costs, while fuel raises the cost of moving feed, chicks and finished products.

In Bushbuckridge, vegetable farmer Simangele Makutu said transport eats most of her profit because she must drive long distances to markets in Bushbuckridge, Hazyview and Mbombela before produce spoils. Fertiliser prices have doubled, she said, so she buys less and harvests less: where she used to cut 100 bags of spinach she now gets 60 to 70. The minimum-wage increase means she can afford two workers instead of four. Nqobile Khumalo, a chicken farmer in the Northern Cape, said her business had dropped two employees it could no longer pay.

Jabu Mahlangu, Mpumalanga president of the National African Farmers Union (Nafu), said every commodity is struggling and some farmers are cutting staff because they cannot pay wages. "A farmer starts the day before sunrise, but the cost of diesel, fertiliser and transport is already waiting at the gate," he said.

With another fuel price increase expected in October, Mahlangu urged the government to introduce a time-limited, fiscally responsible reduction in the general fuel levy when prices surge, as South Africa has done before, together with targeted transport and input relief for low-income households, small-scale farmers and food distributors. "This is the moment for practical action, not another declaration," he said.

Photo: PZFUN / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Source: Food for Mzansi