Last week, torrential flooding hit in Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces of north-east South Africa. The country declared a national disaster after 37 people died and an estimated ZAR 4 billion (EUR 200 million) of infrastructure damage occurred. The world-famous Kruger National Park was also largely affected by these floods and closed their gates to the public for four days due to safety concerns.
Beeld: © Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands / William Bowden
Agriculture Counsellor, Evert Jan Krajenbrink, visits the Tzaneen region in November before the flooding. The region was already receiving good rainfall at the time which means soil levels were saturated when the floods hit.
Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces are major citrus and avocado production areas, along with other sub-tropical fruits such as mangoes, papayas, litchis and even macadamia nuts. According to several local news agencies, agriculture has been largely affected by these floods in the region. As citrus approaches the harvest season, flooding of orchards could potentially delay this.
Rainfall exceeded the 100-year flood level in many places and some areas such, as Tzaneen, received almost 400mm of rain in one week. Tzaneen is home to one of the largest tomato farmers in the southern hemisphere, ZZ2, who is also a major producer of avocadoes.
President Ramaphosa visited the affected areas and notes the role climate change is playing in these kinds of disasters and weather patterns.
The declaration of national disaster allows the government to mobilise resources to quickly provide support relief and recovery efforts. In the last week the weather warning label was downgraded from 10 to a 5. Kruger National Park is since slowly reopening.
Although weather has begun to ease up and the water levels are dropping, for Dutch companies actively working with farmers and suppliers in these regions, it is best to make contact in order to assess the impact on agriculture producers.