AGRICULTURE NEWS - It is expected that communal farmers will be hardest hit by ongoing drought conditions across the country and subsequent lack of grazing, according to Gerhard Schutte, CEO of the Red Meat Producers’ Organisation (RPO).
He was speaking at a recent media briefing hosted by Agri SA and attended by various commodity organisations to discuss the impact of the widespread drought on various commodities.
Schutte said there were about 1,2 million households in especially communal areas that kept cattle to access cash when they needed to pay school fees, for example.
“These livestock owners will not have the money to buy-in feed when they need to and will lose animals,” he said.
According to Schutte, both government and private sector assistance was needed to supply feed to livestock farmers before winter when fodder banks would be low.
