Climate change effect on food security: govt priority

THE Gauteng department of agriculture and rural development is sitting on a long list of farmers applying for aid relief, with their plight prompted by adverse change in weather patterns.

MEC for agriculture and rural development Nandi Mayathula-Khoza said yesterday that weather conditions such as hail had a negative impact on farming communities, threatening food security.

"We have received requests from farmers for assistance because their crop was destroyed by hail. We have a long list of them," she told journalists at her Johannesburg office during a press briefing.

Mayathula-Khoza said the change in weather patterns in Gauteng showed evidence of climate change. If nothing were done, she said, the effects would lead to ever-increasing food prices. She said Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane had instructed the provincial government to institute a study in which it was asking stakeholders to come up with strategies to respond to the effects of climate change.

Mayathula-Khoza said the challenge was dealing with competing needs of a growing population, such as housing. She said the province had developed a a policy to protect high agricultural land for food production and sustainable development. She encouraged communities to plant food gardens and fruit trees.