Rural safety and poor road infrastructure continue to pose risks to the farming community and farmers say these factors prevent them from getting funding.

The Free State Agriculture organisation is holding a two-day annual congress in Bloemfontein.

This year’s congress will address various agricultural issues and how to position themselves for the next 120 years.

The organisation is holding a congress to reflect on the challenges and progress made over the past year and to find solutions to them.

Free State Agriculture President, Francois Wilken says efforts to engage relevant government departments have not made progress.

Wilken says farmers need rural roads to be continuously graded and not on an ad hoc basis.

“Roads are something you must maintain on a continuous basis, and that’s not happening. With the safety is the police in the Free State. Sometimes they have a problem with vehicles and personnel, and another problem is that there are cases where income from Wepenar near Lesotho. Where the police are, I won’t say they are involved in stock theft, but they benefit from theft. So there’s no trust with the farmers to give information or all information to the police. And at this moment it’s a big challenge.”

Farmers have called for greater financial backing. Farmer Lourens Schlebusch says their production margins are getting very thin. He says he is currently farming with sunflowers and maize, and he’s worried the high input costs will not yield a profit.

“I think that’s one thing I’m feeling at the moment, we have had a difficult year regarding crops. We have had a difficult year with sheep and with wool prices. We have had two to three difficult years with that. But standing together as a community, working together against crime and all those things that are almost a given. But there are a few different things that we are looking at in the future, which are economically viable and we need to look into them.”

Free State Agriculture Congress begins today: 

Tariffs

Supply and demand in the rest of the world have a direct impact on the agricultural industry. AGRI President, Jaco Minnaar says the increase in the tariffs imposed by the US government will surely affect many in the industry.

“And then certainly the impact of the trade negotiation, the new shifts in the world. Because of the trade and tariffs being imposed in the US cause concerns, specifically in certain areas. If we think about citrus, the Western Cape as well as the Orange River produce. Their market is mainly the US, so they need to find a new market or restructure. I think in general that’s the biggest concern. Profitability is always a problem in agriculture.”

Free State MEC for Agriculture, Elsabe Rockman emphasises the importance of collaborations,

“We are working together closely on foot and mouth disease, controlled measurements and actions that we can take proactively, as well as management in certain instances where foot and mouth disease has already been confirmed. An area of priority for both of us is the state of our rural roads.

“We are playing a good role between the department of roads and transport, our farmers and farmers’ associations. There’s a lot of collaboration that is quite positive and we have a shared interest when it comes to training and development, as well as research and development,” Rockman explains.

The congress ends Thursday and is expected to elect new leadership to lead the organisation for the next year.