Dundee and District farmers show true grit amid huge challenges
"Input costs, fertilizer, imported goods like tractor parts, medicines, feeds, etc, are all imported commodities and paid in dollars or Euros. This forces the price up. This creates the situation that every profit our farmers would have made becomes close to a loss. Even the commodity companies are not making a profit at these high input costs."
With meat and other prices remaining flat due to current economic conditions and ever-increasing input costs associated with a weak rand, Dundee and district farmers (like many others) are in a tight corner.
Agriculture has replaced mining as the area’s greatest economic activity, and its performance impacts widely on the Dundee district.
“While the heat-wave of the past weeks turned the veld and we are now running into dry pastures fast, winter conditions are arriving earlier than expected. The positive news is that most of our farming areas have had excellent rains and water storage is good,” said Andrew Adams, chairman of the Dundee Farmers Association.
“The excellent summer rains brought us a lovely crop of tall pasture lands/veld. But this goes hand-in-hand with an explosion of animal parasites, so farmers are fighting the invasion.”
Turning to the livestock industry, Adams said that mutton and lamb prices remain under pressure and at times have dropped by 20%, with many consumers cutting back on grocery purchases.
“Lamb is selling at around R85/kg, which meant there was hardly any demand over Christmas.”
The wool and fibre market still hasn’t recovered from the collapse of the national foot-and-mouth outbreaks that stopped exports.
Beef prices remain flat, with a slight increase over Christmas.
“Prices have dropped, and prices of R55 to R57/kg are common. Similarly, the foot-and-mouth that happened on our doorstep put sale yards under a lot of buyer pressure for the weaner and feeder grade. The feedlots just cannot afford an infection in their big herds again. They previously had to slaughter their entire herds and went through hell. To try and create confidence in our top-quality weaners again is not going to be easy. Weaner/feeder prices in Dundee and further east are still pressurised. This pill is hard to swallow, as Dundee was always the barometer of pricing in the country.”
The local pork industry is seeing demand for exceptional smoked products at fair prices sold at local markets.
“Dairy prices are thankfully slightly more favourable. This is the first time in almost 20 years that our dairy farmers can try to recover some losses. They have been under pressure for a very long time. We hope they can try to recover again. Dairy is an important industry in Dundee and we should again try to support our local product, Orange Grove, as much as we can.”
Poultry industry:
Nationally, the poultry industry is still struggling to recover from Avian Influenza and the national flock is at an all-time low. “We should have seen massive price hikes on eggs and poultry – thankfully, our regional KZN flocks were less affected and prices stayed stable.”
Adams said that with ‘regular citizens not having money in their pockets, the buying power has dropped and everything has tightened’.
“There are many reasons for this, but the most ominous reason is the cost of Covid-19. This bug is still biting us. Covid has driven the world into a recession. Unemployment is at record levels and we just can’t seem to interest foreign companies to invest in SA with our poor infrastructure and backlogs at ports.”
Added to this pressure, Eskom delivery has compounded the problem, forcing citizens to spend their hard-earned money on trying to keep their lights on via generators or solar systems.
“On the positive side, we are now exporting meat to Saudi Arabia in dollars and we are hoping the foreign capital will start increasing meat prices in the medium term. Maize and soy should also see an increase hopefully, as yields are realised across the continent.”
Adams said farmers in the district are feeling the pinch, but have shown to be a resilient bunch.
“We have survived almost biblical events over the past 10 years – devastating droughts, floods, Covid-19, disease and scary security situations. Not even Hollywood could have scripted the past 10 years.”
Security threat answered:
Adams said they learned from the July 2021 riots, where the town’s people, farmers and all communities stood together to secure the area, along with the South African Police Service (SAPS). Security cameras have been installed and are continuing to be installed as farmers join hands to raise funds. The cameras will also link up with security structures in town to ensure ‘wall-to-wall’ coverage.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram or email us at dundee.courier@caxton.co.za. Add us on WhatsApp 071 277 1394.
