Small farmer decries high cost of living

Labour Q&A with Terry Bell

Fin24 user Jennifer Minnaar who works on a small farm owned by her mother is unhappy with how expensive life on a farm has become.

Responding to a call to add your voice to the big labour debate, Jennifer writes:

I am a small farmer, farming on my mother's small farm, 2km from a black settlement. I have one farm labourer and I am doing it according the law. We have 50 cattle, most not producing yet. My husband works part time.

I spend a lot of his salary on the farm, keeping our fences up, fire breaks etc. I can sell a number of weaned calves a year but the last couple of years I noticed that this is just about enough to pay my farmworker. No income for us - we were hoping to, when we retire, generate a bit extra on our pension.

Life has become so expensive and even before using a kilowatt of electricity we have to pay R2 000 a month rental on the pole and transformer. Without Eskom we cannot pump water for our animals.

A lot of consumables like dip and medicine have increased so much in price that I sometimes think it is just not worth the effort. I cannot understand how the government think they can put non-farmers on a piece of land and expect them to produce.

All the small farms around us have stopped producing. Those farmers don't even have electricity anymore and have to come and buy a bucket full from those that still have electricity. I am feeling hopeless.

READ: Unintended consequences of ANC Land Proposals

Your letter, Jennifer, sums up much of the problem.  For example, small farms like yours survive in Europe. Their produce also undercuts prices for local produce.

To feed the people should be a government priority and this requires coherent and comprehensive policies that are so far lacking.  However, your reference to a nearby "black settlement" is puzzling.

Anyway, we can but hope that sense will prevail and that South Africa's food security will be ensured.

Regards
Terry

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