Without speedy interventions, South Africa’s food producers are in serious trouble, CEO warns.
South Africans may have already started noticing lower stock of certain food items on store shelves, and unless significant interventions are put in place to protect food producers, the problem will only get worse, warns AgriSA chief executive Christo van der Rheede.this week, Van der Rheede warned that South Africa faces a deepening food crisis due to the ongoing and escalating load shedding, with nothing being done by the government to mitigate this.
“That this power, perhaps the most consequential for essential infrastructure and food production, wasn’t utilised before the termination of the state of disaster must be the greatest failing of this short-lived intervention.” Consumers have already been hit with the highest levels of food inflation in 14 years. Stats SA recorded food inflation at 14% in March – the segment being the key driver behind headline inflation pushing higher instead of easing as expected.But the consequences go beyond pricing and availability, van der Rheede said.
However, what could work in the short term is working with food producers to establish a special load shedding schedule and implementing load curtailment measures, the AgriSA lead said.
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