drought |
DA shadow minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, Annette Steyn, on Wednesday said: “If we do not unite in actively fighting the drought, South Africa’s economy will be brought to its knees, placing food security at great risk and leading to unaffordable food price inflation”.
Print Send to Friend 1 0 Reacting to the drop in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures released by Stats SA, Steyn said the DA was deeply concerned about the future of the agriculture sector in South Africa. Steyn said: “The figures show an agriculture sector shrinking at an alarming rate, a culmination of inadequate government planning and economic stimuli, deepened by the effects of the current drought gripping the whole country”. According to the report, the agricultural sector shrunk by 14% during the 4th quarter of 2015, and by 8.4% from 2014 to 2015. This is the largest decline in the sector since 1995.
Steyn said since the outbreak of the drought, 37 000 jobs in agriculture had been lost. She said there had also been a knock-on effect on the manufacturing sector, where 36 000 jobs have been lost, mostly in food processing. “The DA therefore again urges government to declare the current drought a national disaster in order to provide a coordinated response to the disaster,” said Steyn.
South Africa’s agriculture sector, which has been ravaged by the worst
drought in recent times, has seen its input to the Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) shrink by 14%, prompting the Democratic Alliance (DA) to
warn food may become “unaffordable”.
DA shadow minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, Annette
Steyn, on Wednesday said: “If we do not unite in actively fighting the
drought, South Africa’s economy will be brought to its knees, placing
food security at great risk and leading to unaffordable food price
inflation”.
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Send to Friend
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Reacting to the drop in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures released by
Stats SA, Steyn said the DA was deeply concerned about the future of
the agriculture sector in South Africa.
Steyn said: “The figures show an agriculture sector shrinking at an
alarming rate, a culmination of inadequate government planning and
economic stimuli, deepened by the effects of the current drought
gripping the whole country”.
According to the report, the agricultural sector shrunk by 14% during
the 4th quarter of 2015, and by 8.4% from 2014 to 2015. This is the
largest decline in the sector since 1995.
Steyn said since the outbreak of the drought, 37 000 jobs in agriculture
had been lost. She said there had also been a knock-on effect on the
manufacturing sector, where 36 000 jobs have been lost, mostly in food
processing.
“The DA therefore again urges government to declare the current drought a
national disaster in order to provide a coordinated response to the
disaster,” said Steyn.
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It is our preference that if you wish to share this article with others you should please use the following link:
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