Farmers could also be struggling to develop action plans for possible scenarios in order to assist them in addressing fluctuations in market prices, weather patterns and the influence of a growing or declining economy.
Agriculture in South Africa is certainly not for the faint-hearted. Being a South African farmer is an occupation with one of the highest mortality rates in the world. South Africa’s challenging climate is also no secret, and every producer is well aware of the risks and effects of drought, floods, frost, and hail. South African farmers are part of the global food production network, and at the moment everyone is anticipating the influence that cheap food imports and the rand’s volatility will have on local prices.
Looking back at the last couple of years it is clear that almost all the abovementioned factors had an effect on South African farmers. However, these factors are not the only obstacles.
Foot-and-mouth disease
Last year will be remembered as the year with not one, but two outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in South Africa. This against the backdrop of an outbreak in 2012 that cost the country billions.
Producers had not yet been able to regain market access to all previous international red meat export destinations when the second outbreak of 2019 closed South African borders once again. The second outbreak, which occurred in November last year, came just a month or two after the borders for export began re-opening.
The second outbreak was even worse than the first, since it occurred in the so-called FMD-free zone, resulting in an almost immediate halt of livestock operations in Limpopo and surrounding provinces.
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