Cooling showers drifted over Aliwal North and Burgersdorp areas yesterday, bringing temporary relief to farmers and residents.Extreme drought has destroyed all chances of the area producing its normal annual crop of 18000 tons of maize, despite good news yesterday that a second major river serving the area, the Kraai, could start flowing again by the weekend, said farmer Bertus Bekker.
Yesterday, a pilot friend flew Bekker to assess the impact of the scattered thundershowers, which started on Monday, in the catchment area of the Kraai in the southern Drakensberg.
“We found good water below Barkly East and we expect it to arrive (in the Aliwal North district) in three days. There is quite a bit of water coming down.”
The Kraai has not flowed for three months.
Farmers had been waiting for Bekker’s airborne assessment before taking the risk and planting about 2000 hectares of maize, sorghum, rye and lucerne which they irrigate from the Kraai.
The Orange River was fuller yesterday as farmers, who played a major role in a community effort at building a sandbag wall across the Aliwal weir, prayed that the temporary dam wall would hold. This is the town’s only source of water.
Afrikaaner-Irish descendant, farmer and single mom Rosemary Botha, 56, said she was teetering on the edge and pinning her hopes on keeping her 485 merino sheep and some cattle alive while she tried to sell them all.
Last year 100 sheep were stolen, and now, with no grazing left, her ewes and lambs are weak.
“Merino lambs just look at each other and say ‘come let’s die’ and then they just die, and they die and they die,” she said.
“I was crying at 4am today. If I had to earn a rand for every tear I have shed on this farm, I would be a very rich woman.”
Her son Roan, 30, showed the Dispatch their main dam, which is down to a pond. Hundreds of dead fish lay on the cracked mud.
He said the water would be gone within days.
The Dispatch was also shown the pit where cattle and sheep which died in the drought were dumped.
Farmers Russell Shorten and his son Rodney said their effort to try and beat the recessionary trend by buying 300 weaners and trying to fatten them up on a piece of hired grazing came to nought when a fire destroyed 5000 hectares in the area.
They were forced to bring the steers back to their farm, causing overstocking.
On Monday, all 300 will be sold to Karon Beef at a loss of 7.5% on the original purchase price, but the cash will bring relief, they said.
Bekker, and other farmers, spoke of the long-term effect of the drought on farming cycles.
Grass burned to the roots in dry soil would take 18 months to recover, and cows and ewes battled to conceive during the drought, meaning herds and flocks would be reduced in the future.
He said the drought weighed on the minds of farmers and raised tension, although some projects had helped to take farmers’ minds off the crisis on their farms.
“When temperatures go over 40°C day after day, and there is no sign of rain, it can drive you crazy,” he said.
Two farmers have committed suicide during the drought, one in the Free State and one in the Eastern Cape. — mikel@dispatch.co.za
Showers bring fresh hope to region
Extreme drought has destroyed all chances of the area producing its normal annual crop of 18000 tons of maize, despite good news yesterday that a second major river serving the area, the Kraai, could start flowing again by the weekend, said farmer Bertus Bekker.
Yesterday, a pilot friend flew Bekker to assess the impact of the scattered thundershowers, which started on Monday, in the catchment area of the Kraai in the southern Drakensberg.
“We found good water below Barkly East and we expect it to arrive (in the Aliwal North district) in three days. There is quite a bit of water coming down.”
The Kraai has not flowed for three months.
Farmers had been waiting for Bekker’s airborne assessment before taking the risk and planting about 2000 hectares of maize, sorghum, rye and lucerne which they irrigate from the Kraai.
The Orange River was fuller yesterday as farmers, who played a major role in a community effort at building a sandbag wall across the Aliwal weir, prayed that the temporary dam wall would hold. This is the town’s only source of water.
Afrikaaner-Irish descendant, farmer and single mom Rosemary Botha, 56, said she was teetering on the edge and pinning her hopes on keeping her 485 merino sheep and some cattle alive while she tried to sell them all.
Last year 100 sheep were stolen, and now, with no grazing left, her ewes and lambs are weak.
“Merino lambs just look at each other and say ‘come let’s die’ and then they just die, and they die and they die,” she said.
“I was crying at 4am today. If I had to earn a rand for every tear I have shed on this farm, I would be a very rich woman.”
Her son Roan, 30, showed the Dispatch their main dam, which is down to a pond. Hundreds of dead fish lay on the cracked mud.
He said the water would be gone within days.
The Dispatch was also shown the pit where cattle and sheep which died in the drought were dumped.
Farmers Russell Shorten and his son Rodney said their effort to try and beat the recessionary trend by buying 300 weaners and trying to fatten them up on a piece of hired grazing came to nought when a fire destroyed 5000 hectares in the area.
They were forced to bring the steers back to their farm, causing overstocking.
On Monday, all 300 will be sold to Karon Beef at a loss of 7.5% on the original purchase price, but the cash will bring relief, they said.
Bekker, and other farmers, spoke of the long-term effect of the drought on farming cycles.
Grass burned to the roots in dry soil would take 18 months to recover, and cows and ewes battled to conceive during the drought, meaning herds and flocks would be reduced in the future.
He said the drought weighed on the minds of farmers and raised tension, although some projects had helped to take farmers’ minds off the crisis on their farms.
“When temperatures go over 40°C day after day, and there is no sign of rain, it can drive you crazy,” he said.
Two farmers have committed suicide during the drought, one in the Free State and one in the Eastern Cape. — mikel@dispatch.co.za
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