Agbiz economist, Wandile Sihlobo, says about 44 000 people involved in agriculture directly are now out of jobs. He says the sectors most vulnerable to drought showed the biggest losses, including the game industry and crop farming.

“These are the sectors that are much more exposed to the effects of the drought.

“In other sectors, such as livestock for example – even though it was negatively affected impacted by the drought, there were some short-term jobs created with people slaughtering more of their cattle and all of that activity.”

He says forestry and aquaculture sectors also both showed some positive gains.

Looking forward, Sihlobo says the trend is expected to continue into the third quarter.

“I think in the next quarter we are not going to see many changes because if you look at it, all the activity in agriculture is in the winter time. It’s only the guys in the Cape and some in the Free State who are busy with wheat. All others are summer crops but, generally, there is not much activity expected.

“What we see, and are also a bit optimistic about, is the last quarter of this year. We think that with the weather expected to improve – we think that in that, there would be some increased field work activity and that might come with some benefits.”

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