ABOVE:
Heavysnowfall
in partsofthe
NorthernCapewill
helpreplenishsoil
moisturelevelsand
aidtherecovery
ofveld,according
toweather
specialistJohan
vandenBerg.
TheaKoen/
SnowRepoRTSa9 August 2019 farmer’sweekly 23Despitethecoldweathercurrently
being experienced in the summer and
winter rainfall regions, the outlook
for crop production is positive,
with conditions favourable for the
root development of fruit and other
crops in the winter rainfall region
during the dormant period.
This was according to specialised
crop insurance manager at Santam
Agriculture Johan van den Berg,
who said the weather conditions
experienced over large parts of
the winter rainfall region and the
important winter grain production
areas, mainly in the Swartland and
southern Cape regions, were favourable
for this time of year. He added that
while there had been very cold daysandparticularlylowminimum
night-time temperatures, winter had,
nonetheless, been relatively mild in
most of the summer rainfall regions.
The late start to winter, however,
had seen maize, in particular,
being harvested two to four weeks
later than usual in the central and
western parts of the country.
“The most severe impact is
probably on livestock farmers in
drought-stricken areas, where
additional nutrition is required
to produce body heat, and not
only ensure normal subsistence,”
Van den Berg said.
“The cold weather over the past
few weeks is positive for winter
crop farmers as it provides theaccumulationof cold units required to
keep crops in developmental stages.”
Van den Berg said that although
summer crops had, in general, been
planted late, the first frost had also
occurred later than usual, resulting in
little frost damage to summer crops.
“Frost damage might, however,
occur in the new season with
plants that were stimulated to start
developing due to the relatively
warm conditions for most of
winter up until now,” he said.
There was also a high probability
of frost well into September over
the central and southern parts
of the country, posing a risk for
winter grains and fruit crops,
he added. – Pieter DempseyWeatherPositive crop outlook for SA despite cold weather
Theheavysnowandrainthat
fellrecentlyinpartsofthe
Karoowillaidtherecovery
ofgrazingdestroyedbythe
devastatingdrought,butmuch
morerainwasneededfortheveld
toreturntoitsfullpotential.This
wasaccordingtoJohanvanden
Berg,specialisedcropinsurance
manageratSantamAgriculture.
Snowwasparticularlyvaluable,
accordingtoVandenBerg,
asit enabledmoistureto
penetratethesoilwithout
anyevaporationandrun-off.
Thismeantthattheoptimal
amountofmoisturereached
therootzoneoftheplants.
“However,thiscallsforcareful
grazingmanagementduring
thegrowthseason.Theplants
needtimetorecoverfromthe
pastsevenyears’drought.
Considerabledamagecanbe
causedinthelongtermif the
Drought
‘Ensure
sensible veld
management
after drought’
young grass and shrubs are
grazed too soon,” he said.
The prolonged drought had
resulted in the demise of
palatable climax grass species.
These needed to redevelop from
seed as the roots had been grazed
away or killed off by the extreme
heat and loss of moisture.
The drought was far from
over, however, Van den Berg
added. It had rained and snowed
in a relatively small part of the
drought-stricken Northern Cape.
The area west of Vryburg and
Kimberley, all the way to East
London, was still exceedingly dry.
“We don’t expect any significant
rain until November. The goodnewsis thattheElNiño weather
cycle is weakening and it seems
as if the potential for rainfall
during the late summer over the
largest part of the summer rainfall
area is improving,” he said.
Hester Obermeyer, a sheep
farmer near Sutherland, said the
local farming community was
very grateful for the rain and
snow. Snowfall of up to 10cm
and rainfall of up to 54mm had
been recorded in the district.
“But we need animal feed more
than ever,” Obermeyer said.
“The sheep were left extremely
weakened by the intense cold
and need energy rations to pick
up condition.” – Annelie Coleman