Agriculture
Stock theft in Free State in spotlight during budget─── ELSABÉ RICHARD 05:00 Thu, 31 Mar 2022
Stock theft remains an issue in parts of the Free State, and in order to combat this crime, the Department of Agriculture and Land Reform says it will continue to work closely with relevant stakeholders and organised agriculture.
The department will also work closely with commodity groups within the agricultural sector.
This is according to MEC Thembeni Nxangisa during his budget speech.
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Nxangisa announced that an amount of R4.5 million has been set aside for risk management with regard to stock theft in the Free State.
The MEC shared that there is an increase in demand for livestock products in developing countries as opposed to developed countries. “The demand for livestock products is highly driven by population growth, and the economic value livestock carries in the communities. The sector, however, experiences challenges such as low productivity and theft.
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“Unisa estimates the value of livestock stolen during 2019/20 to be around R1 179 458 600. On average there are about 182 cattle, 282 sheep and 138 goats being stolen every day in South Africa. There are more than 131 000 cases of stolen livestock each year.
“The Free State alone has about 4 000 stock theft cases reported yearly. The livestock theft causes serious financial losses to the farmers and increases the risk of farming with livestock.
“This programme is aimed at a strategy to curb the livestock theft, such as tracking devices, security surveillance, security infrastructure etc. We will also include agricultural drones to assist our crop farmers with solutions such as fertilisation, pesticide, herbicide, and weedicide controls,” concluded Nxangisa.
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Furthermore, the DA previously expressed their concern regarding the low arrest and conviction rate among the two main categories of crimes affecting rural areas – namely stock theft and farm attacks. DA leader in the Free State, Roy Jankielsohn, says stock theft and farm attacks cause billions of rands in annual losses to the agricultural community - which is already struggling to survive due to high input costs, damage caused by poor roads, and increased electricity prices, coupled with load-shedding.
Meanwhile, the Provincial Commissioner of the Free State, Baile Motswenyane, has stated rural safety is a priority for the South African Police Service and that the partnership with farmers to eradicate stock theft in our province is of utmost importance.
