Agriculture
Swartland wheat producers under pressure─── SABRINA DEAN 14:00 Thu, 10 Sep 2015
Bloemfontein - Wheat Farmers in the Swartland area of the Western Cape say that unless they get good rain in the next week, numerous producers stand to lose their crops completely.
Chairperson of the Grain SA Winter Cereals Committee, Andries Theron, says winter rains arrived much later than usual and many producers had to gamble by planting without there being sufficient soil moisture.
He says he usually gets about 300mm per year on his farm in the Moreesburg area but has only had about 150mm to date:
'Andries Theron'
The Swartland region accounts for about a quarter of South Africa’s wheat production. Theron says expectations are for a below average harvest that will see SA required to import about 2-million tons of wheat to meet local demand.
Sabrina Dean/OFM News
'Andries Theron':
