South African farmers warn load-shedding threatens food security
Eskom’s rotational power cuts pose a significant threat to the country’s food chain, with farmers estimating losses of up to half of their yields due to load-shedding.
South Africa has come out of a heatwave that recently hit the country. This, combined with Eskom implementing higher stages of load-shedding, is a significant challenge for the agriculture sector.
This is according to Deidre Carter, Agri Limpopo CEO, who described the lack and rising cost of electricity as a “millstone around everyone’s neck” during an interview with eNCA.
“Agri Limpopo is bitterly concerned about the sudden implementation of higher phases of load-shedding that pushes the agricultural sector and the entire food chain into the red,” said Carter.
“Farmers are currently reporting their losses could be anywhere between 30% and 50%.”
This is because irrigation systems that farmers rely on heavily during heatwaves and droughts can’t put down enough water between bouts of load-shedding.
“It’s catastrophic. The heatwave is indeed not abnormal, and it is a natural occurrence, but the [in]ability of the government to supply us with power is the thing that’s abnormal,” said Carter.
“Farmers make provision for times of drought and heatwaves by irrigating, but our farmers are deprived of the right to irrigate and produce food.”
“No irrigation system is designed to put down so much water in the current timeslots [between load-shedding sessions],” she added.
Carter said one of the most significant issues farmers face is the frequent shifting of load-shedding stages at short notice, making planning challenging.
Eskom was forced to implement stage 6 load-shedding on Friday, 24 November 2023, due to the loss of five generation units and the need to replenish emergency reserves.
Eskom cut back on load-shedding on Sunday, 26 November 2023, and planned to implement a pattern of Stage 3 load-shedding during the day and Stage 4 overnight in the days that followed.
However, it announced an increase to continuous Stage 4 load-shedding at 14:00 on Monday, 27 November.
However, this plan was short-lived, with the state-owned power utility announcing stage 6 night-time power cuts on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, it announced another escalation in load-shedding, this time increasing daytime power cuts to stage 5.
Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, Minister of Electricity
South African electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said power station unit breakdowns weren’t primarily to blame.
He said Eskom over-committed its emergency reserves, including its open-cycle gas turbines and pumped storage schemes, and has had to cut back on their use.
“For purposes of protecting the grid, we need to ensure that we continue to protect the reserves, so we are not going to engage them at a heightened intensity, and as a result, we don’t have the benefit of the 4,600MW that we would automatically draw from our emergency reserves,” he said.
“As a result of that, it calls for the intensification of load-shedding.”
Eskom Group executive for generation Bheki Nxumalo partially blamed the heatwave for the intensified load-shedding as demand was approximately 1,500MW higher compared to recent days.
He added that one of the reasons for the higher demand could be ramped-up airconditioner use due to high temperatures across the country.
However, while the heatwave has begun to ease, load-shedding continues to intensify.
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