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The government’s failure to inspect water infrastructure timeously is explored in this week’s Farmer’s Weekly.

Ryan says this followed a meeting between the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation, and the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu.

It came to light during the meeting that the department had a backlog of 474 dam safety evaluation reports that needed to be completed.

The chairperson of the committee, Robert Mashego, says in a statement that this backlog was very worrying as it directly impacted the department’s ability to enforce the National Water Act.

ALSO READ: Sludge necessitates water-shedding in Jagersfontein

Ryan adds that during the meeting, members of the portfolio committee expressed concern over the repeat of the 11 September 2022 incident in Jagersfontein in the Free State, where an abandoned mine dam wall collapsed. Homes were destroyed and three people lost their lives.

Furthermore, the pricing strategy for raw water use is in its third revision, but Ryan says it is still far from granting the agriculture sector piece of mind. Instead, the draft strategy removes existing support measures for irrigation and will likely add additional costs to the sector.

This is according to the head of legal intelligence at Agbiz, Annelize Crossby, who cautions that farmers were already under strain due to rising input costs.

Crossby adds that the effective water pricing in the sector needs to be considered carefully, and that the tariffs need to promote the development of competitive businesses, and not be loaded with excessive taxes or cross-subsidy requirements.

Another news story takes a look at almond production in South Africa, which has more than doubled as new producers have entered the industry and their orchards are coming into production.

However, Ryan shares that it is difficult to quantify production exactly as the industry is not organised, but it has been estimated that production range between 800 and 900 tonnes this year.

Production is expected to reach 7 000 tonnes by 2028.

OFM News