Water and food supplies under threat, as businesses and households buckle under the pressure of load shedding.
The most severe power cuts ever experienced in South Africa are threatening food and water supplies and disrupting the lives of millions of people, including chicken farmers.
As a stopgap measure, producers have begun using generators, which cost the industry about 75 cents above the normal price of production per kilogram of chicken. This is just one example of how the energy crisis is roiling the continent’s most industrialized economy.Over the last 15 years, Eskom, which provides 90% of all of South Africa’s electricity, has kept its grid from collapsing by cutting power when it has been unable to meet demand. Known locally as “load shedding,” these planned blackouts mainly affected mining operations and heavy industry until last year, when they became much more widespread.
The blackouts have created problems at every step of the agricultural production chain, affecting crop irrigation, processing and storage. Stores have also taken costly measures to keep produce from spoiling on shelves. Among those affected are farmers in the Northern Cape province, who are already suffering under massive heat waves that have seen temperatures in some areas edge toward 117 degrees. Without energy, they can’t irrigate their crops, which include thirsty citrus trees.
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