Rain may have fallen‚ but farming in the Western Cape is still reeling from the impact of the drought. Job losses totaling 30‚000‚ an economic loss of R5.9bn, and a drop in exports of up to 20% were reported on Wednesday by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) at an agricultural producers’ event in Robertson. "Many hectares of productive fruit trees and vineyards have been removed ahead of the normal replanting schedule due to the lack of available water, as well as to prevent disease and pests from spreading‚" said WWF. With 270‚000ha under irrigation‚ agriculture used 43% of the water in the Western Cape‚ but WWF said farms in the province were the most efficient in the country. They used 5‚874m³ of water per irrigated hectare‚ compared with 9‚913m³ in Mpumalanga. WWF said the Western Cape was the country’s leading farm exporter. "In this province alone‚ agriculture sustains a R530bn economy. This sector employs about 180‚000 workers‚ while the agri-processing sector adds another ...
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