Load shedding has plagued Africa’s biggest industrialized economy for years.
Industry groups warn an energy crisis is hurting South Africa’s food sector, from dairy farms unable to refrigerate milk to hens drowning as ventilators fail.
Agri SA said record power disruptions have produced staple shortages, causing price spikes that might make certain popular commodities too expensive for disadvantaged families.
“The cost of food is going to be an issue, particularly to the lower income household, especially with chicken, which is one of the cheapest protein staples in the country,” Agri SA chief economist Kulani Siweya told Agence France-Presse.
Load shedding—scheduled blackouts—have plagued Africa’s most industrialized economy for years due to Eskom’s inability to meet demand and repair its aging coal power infrastructure.
Strikes and wage conflicts have caused Eskom’s outages to worsen in the past year.
Last week, power outages forced Herman du Preez’s ventilation system to fail, suffocating at least 40,000 hens.
“It wasn’t a beautiful sight to see how much money we lost owing to Eskom’s unreliability,” Du Preez told AFP on Monday at his farm in the North West province.
Izaak Breitenbach, South African Poultry Association general manager, claimed power disruptions have hampered slaughterhouse operations, causing chicken shortages.
Siweya said the load shedding affects the milk industry’s cold storage facilities and processing.
President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged “farmers that are unable to keep their produce fresh” due to outages in a Monday message.
He did not commit to end the cuts quickly.
“We must be candid about our issues and what it will take to fix them,” the president wrote. “We cannot end load shedding overnight.”
