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From dairies unable to keep milk refrigerated to chickens suffocating en masse when ventilators fail, the energy crisis is hitting South Africa’s food sector hard, industry groups said.
Record blackouts have caused shortages of some staple foods, threatening higher prices for some popular items that may be too high for poor families.
“Food affordability will be a challenge, especially for low-income households, especially when using chicken, one of the cheapest protein staples in the country.AgriSA Chief Economist Kulani Siweya said:
Rolling blackouts, known as load shedding, have strained Africa’s most industrialized economies for years. State-owned energy company Eskom has been unable to keep up with demand and sustain its aging coal-fired infrastructure.
But the outage has reached new extremes in the last 12 months.
Poultry farmer Hermann du Prez said at least 40,000 chickens had suffocated to death last week due to power interruptions that caused the farm’s ventilation system to fail.
“It didn’t look good to see how much money we lost due to the fact that Eskom is very unreliable.
Isaac Breitenbach, general manager of the South African Poultry Association, said the blackout was slowing slaughterhouse operations and causing “shortages” of chicken.
“The dairy industry also faces challenges in processing milk, with load shedding hampering cold storage facilities,” added AgriSA’s Siweya.
In Monday’s newsletter, President Cyril Ramaphosa said he was aware of “farmers unable to keep their produce fresh” as a result of the blackout.
But he did not promise to end the planned layoffs any time soon.
“We have to be realistic about our challenges and what it takes to fix them. I can’t let you down,” he wrote.
South Africa’s record blackouts have caused shortages of some essentials and threatened price hikes that could be too high for poor families for some popular items
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