Drought, fire impact on W Cape agriculture investigated

Cape Town - The Western Cape government wants to start an impact assessment of the recent fires on the agriculture sector.
 
Minister of Economic Opportunities Alan Winde said teams from the Western Cape Department of Agriculture aimed to visit affected farms on Monday.

“If the fire is under control and the smoke has subsided, the officials will be able to access the farms to conduct surveys. This will give us an idea of the damage to agriculture land and infrastructure,” he said.

“The fires, and the drought, are putting pressure on our agriculture sector, particularly on the wine-producing regions. It is taking focus and manpower away from harvesting," said Winde.

“This is going to have a major cost to our economy. The agriculture sector, with its backward link to agri-procesing, is one of our key growth sectors.”

Winde appealed to residents to assist authorities with their investigation into alleged arson attacks. It is alleged that arson has caused some of the recent fires.