Water Wheel Sept/Oct 2023: Water And Sheep

Abstract

Time for an ewe-turn on farming with indigenous sheep Let’s be honest. When you’re enjoying a convivial dop en tjop with pals (your correspondent likes his beer cold and his lamb loin hot off the coals, medium-rare and lightly salted), it’s unlikely conversation will turn to weighty topics like the country’s water woes. But if you love lamb or mutton, perhaps it should. Consider this: more than half of South Africa’s 22 million sheep are farmed in arid and semi-arid areas. During 2017/18, the drought in the Western Cape forced farmers to slaughter more than 20% of the province’s sheep, some 2.8 million animals. Looming climate change will only worsen the frequency and intensity of drought. And it’s a lot more serious than rising braai meat prices. Lack of water makes farming harder, causing hunger and slashing sheep farmers’ income.

Categories