Costly maize milks SA's dairy industry

SOUTH AFRICA - The South African dairy industry is in a crisis as the rocketing price of maize has meant some farmers are spending more on feeding their cows than they get for the milk they produce
calendar icon 22 March 2007
clock icon 2 minute read
Dairy farmers are leaving the land at a rate of about five a week, leaving high numbers of workers jobless.

The price of maize has doubled in the last year, fuelled by the severe drought upcountry and by the huge surge in the US biofuels industry.

Some farmers are being forced to send their low-producing diary cows to the abattoir.

Dairy farmers say their maize bills make up half of their costs of producing milk. With the demand for biofuels increasing all the time, particularly in the US, there is no sign of the maize price coming down.

Boy Blanckenberg, former national chairperson of the Milk Producers' Association and now an executive member of the Western Cape branch of the association, said five years ago South Africa had more than 7 000 dairy farmers. Now there were 3 900.

"In the Western Cape, drive for only 50km and I can show you where the dairy farmers have gone off the land. When they go, about 40 percent of the dairy cattle are sent to the abattoir, and once that farmer had gone, he will never start up again. The costs are just too high.

"When a farmer leaves the land like this, it has serious implications for the country," Blanckenberg said.

He said it was vital that the milk price went up to stave off the crisis. "If milk went up R1 a litre, then that would give me 50c and I'm back in business. It's crucial that the consumer does pay this increase. The longer the milk price is left as it is, the worse things will be. The milk price is not controlled, but the distributors battle to get the right price in the shops. Three supermarkets sell between 80 percent to 85 percent of all milk, so they can manipulate the price," Blanckenberg said.

In the US the production of biofuels from maize had doubled in the past three years. Some people hail biofuel as a way to cut carbon emissions, but critics say the industry has many negative effects, high food prices among them.

Source: Independent Online
© 2000 - 2024 - Global Ag Media. All Rights Reserved | No part of this site may be reproduced without permission.