'Catastrophe' Predicted in South Africa if Drought Persists
As South Africa’s worst drought in more than a century persists, crops besides grains are under threat as irrigation reservoirs drain, and that could be “catastrophic” for an industry that exports $7.7 billion annually, a body that represents food producers and processors said.
“The drought has now become a huge problem into the irrigation areas because there has been no surface run-off,” said John Purchase, the chief executive officer of the Agricultural Business Chamber that’s also known as Agbiz. “Rivers and dams are running dry.”
South Africa’s rainfall last year was the lowest since records began in 1904, causing widespread damage to crops and livestock herds. The country, which is the continent’s largest corn producer, has become a net importer of the grain for first time since 2008. This helped push the food-price inflation rate to 11.6 percent in August, the highest in about five years and almost double the increase in prices for the average basket of goods.
CIAT/Neil Palmer