The most severe power cuts ever experienced in South Africa are threatening food and water supplies and disrupting the lives of millions of people, including chicken farmers.<\/p>\n
In the poultry industry, electricity outages have forced factories to pause round-the-clock operations for as long as half a day at a time. As a result, over 10 million birds designated for slaughter are still alive and consuming feed, creating a backlog that companies fear they won\u2019t be able to fix.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe actually have enough chickens on farms around the country, but we can\u2019t supply the market because we can\u2019t slaughter the chickens,\u201d Izaak Breitenbach, Chief Executive Officer of the South African Poultry Association, said in an interview.<\/p>\n
As a stopgap measure, producers have begun using generators, which cost the industry about 75 cents above the normal price of production per kilogram of chicken.<\/p>\n
In response to these pressures, KFC temporarily shuttered some of the 750 fried chicken restaurants it operates in the country at the end of last year.<\/p>\n
Chicken is one of the most affordable sources of animal protein in South Africa, and as the country battles a cost-of-living crisis \u2014 the central bank\u2019s 2023 forecast for food price inflation was recently raised to 6.2% \u2014 a sharp price increase could render it beyond many people\u2019s means. Last year, producers raised poultry prices by 17%.<\/p>\n
This is just one example of how the energy crisis is roiling the continent\u2019s most industrialized economy.<\/p>\n
Agriculture Suffers<\/strong><\/p>\n Over the last 15 years, Eskom, which provides 90% of all of South Africa\u2019s electricity, has kept its grid from collapsing by cutting power when it has been unable to meet demand. Known locally as \u201cload shedding,\u201d these planned blackouts mainly affected mining operations and heavy industry until last year, when they became much more widespread.<\/p>\n As the utility has struggled under a leadership crisis, its assets have deteriorated from age, lack of maintenance and even vandalism, all of which pushed outages to record levels in 2022.<\/p>\n If outages continue at those levels, said Chris Hattingh, Head of Policy Analysis at the Centre for Risk Analysis, South Africa\u2019s GDP growth this year will likely be capped at 1.5%.<\/p>\n The blackouts have created problems at every step of the agricultural production chain, affecting crop irrigation, processing and storage. Stores have also taken costly measures to keep produce from spoiling on shelves.<\/p>\n Some of the country\u2019s biggest food retailers, Shoprite and Woolworths, have increased investment in standby generators, rooftop solar panels and refrigerated trailer trucks. But smaller businesses haven\u2019t had opportunities to adapt.<\/p>\n The Sowetan, a local newspaper, addressed a cover story to President Cyril Ramaphosa that listed dozens of small companies \u201ccrippled by every failed promise to fix Eskom.\u201d<\/p>\n Among those affected are farmers in the Northern Cape province, who are already suffering under massive heat waves that have seen temperatures in some areas edge toward 117 degrees. Without energy, they can\u2019t irrigate their crops, which include thirsty citrus trees.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you don\u2019t have enough electricity, you don\u2019t have enough water,\u201d said Nicol Jansen, president of Agri Northern Cape, adding that cash crops such as soybeans are also vulnerable. \u201cWe urgently need more electricity in the irrigation areas.\u201d<\/p>\n Dirty Beaches<\/strong><\/p>\n Other sectors have also been affected. For months, municipal and provincial authorities and utilities have urged consumers to cut back on water usage, as a lack of electricity can prevent stations that pump water through pipes from operating at full capacity.<\/p>\n In Cape Town, at the height of the holiday tourism season, public warnings were issued to avoid sections of the beach that had been closed due to sewage spills after wastewater pumps broke down. To avoid these kinds of situations, the city initiated plans last year to procure renewable energy from independent producers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most profound effect is major stress on all of our infrastructure,\u201d Geordin Hill-Lewis, Cape Town\u2019s mayor and a member of the opposition Democratic Alliance, said of the outages.<\/p>\n Stopgap Solution<\/strong><\/p>\n As South Africa\u2019s government has been delayed in its efforts to increase the amount of electricity it buys from private suppliers, diesel-powered generators remain the last line of defense against electricity shortages. Yet Eskom has repeatedly run down diesel supplies and exhausted its budget to buy more.<\/p>\n The cost has been significant. Shoprite, for example, is currently spending an extra R100 million per month on diesel to keep the lights on in its stores.<\/p>\n Hattingh, the risk analyst, is worried that the current situation is not sustainable. With the vast majority of South Africans struggling with higher costs, the \u201caverage feeling is things are teetering on the precipice.\u201d<\/p>\n
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