Hortgro, in association with Vinpro, the Canned Fruit Producers’ Association, Agri Western Cape and other agriculture organisations have pooled resources to help drought-stricken stone fruit producers in the Little Karoo.
Part of it will be humanitarian relief in the form of food parcels for unemployed farm workers.
More than 600 farm workers, with 3000 dependents have lost their jobs in the region due to the ongoing drought.
Unlike livestock farmers, the deciduous fruit industry is not receiving drought relief from government.
Hortgro Chairperson, Nicholas Dicey says role-players will have to come up with long-term solutions together.
“When we talk about mitigating, we are talking about research in water use; what kind of crops may actually survive in this kind of climate because it’s not necessarily going to change. We hope we’ll get rain soon, but if it doesn’t, you can expect everyone just to run away from that area. We’ve got to help them and decide what kind of crops that are a bit more hardy, that can actually survive in that kind of climate, what they can plant there and continue with their lives there.”
