Dateline ACT

South Africa 01/04

Small farmers deal with growing problems in southern Africa

by Stephen H. Padre, ACT International

Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, April 28, 2004--Even during good times, the life of a small farmer is not easy. There is the hard, physical labor, worrying about the weather, and trying to grow enough to make a living.

A drought has been lingering for nearly four years, which has hit farmers first and worst. Many farmers in this region had not planted crops for the last few years because of the lack of water, and now the situation is causing hardships beyond the resulting shortage of food.

The hot sun beating down on him, David Ngobeni is hard at work in his maize field in Mpumalanga province in northeast South Africa on a late February morning. The maize is a little taller than he is, but it is because he has access to water from an irrigation scheme built by the South African government in the early 60s. He is one of the few farmers who is able to continue growing his crops during the drought.

Ngobeni is chair of the committee that oversees the New Forest irrigation scheme. Members of the committee who use the scheme come from four villages and include 400 farmers. The scheme is fed mostly by rain water. In 2000, Ngobeni says, there was plenty of water because of floods in the area, but now there is little water in the scheme's canals that crisscross 700 hectares.

Most farmers on the committee have therefore been unable to plant their crops, and those who risked plowing their land lost their crops. "Last year was the climax of the drought," Ngobeni says. "We suffered a lot last year." Adjacent to Ngobeni's plot of maize is a small plot of dry, brown maize stalks, the abandoned attempt of another farmer.

Farmers on the committee had been growing crops to sell at the local markets. But when the basis of their income disappeared, supporting their families became difficult. Farming was a livelihood that enabled heads of families to pay for school fees and clothes for their children, as well as other food for the whole family. Now, Ngobeni says, farmers have been forced to find whatever other employment they can find. "It's very, very, very bad - the whole family suffers," he says.

Water is a valuable commodity in the community, and Ngobeni says some residents last year were patrolling the canals to guard what they believed their share of the water was. Some fights even broke out, according to Ngobeni.

Farmers who are part of the nearby Dingleydale irrigation scheme have had similar experiences. They say some people who came to the government's agricultural extension office for management committee meetings ended up fighting.

Life in families has been difficult, the Dingleydale farmers say. The wife and children look to the husband to provide for them as the head of the family, and the husband becomes stressed when he's not able to do so, they say.

The farmers also say that crime, including house break-ins, has risen in the area. "We never expected any theft as a product of the irrigation scheme," says William Sebola, an agricultural technician who works at the extension office.

On the other hand, farmers in Dingleydale speak of families trying to help each other. They say the community leaders can call everybody together to encourage people to approach their neighbors to ask for help instead of stealing.

The region's farmers, on the front lines of the drought, are among those who are receiving assistance from Lutheran Development Service (LDS), a member of the global alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International. LDS's relief programs cover parts of southeast Swaziland and parts of the adjoining Mpumalanga province of South Africa.

While LDS does not have the resources to address all of the secondary problems that arise from the drought, it is currently addressing some of the immediate needs in a variety of ways.

Families with critical food needs have been receiving monthly World Food Program rations distributed by LDS since July 2002. And for those with the potential to grow their own food, LDS has distributed drought-tolerant seeds to households in which family members able to engage in farming. They are supported and encouraged through demonstration workshops and production competitions. Farmers in community garden groups are learning how to grow cassava as a drought-tolerant crop.

Some rain has been falling in the region since January, and farmers hope it continues. While no crops have been growing, the lives of farmers have become fertile ground for other challenges, and the people in this region long for a return to normal life.

This Dateline is part of a series on the drought in southern Africa.

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