Wet weather spells disaster for Efuyeni farmers

Efuyeni farmers in the northern KwaZulu-Natal will never recover from the destruction of their herds, chairman Mthembiseni Thusi said on Friday.

"The surviving cattle need urgent shelter from the icy weather if they are to survive, but there is little building material or ready cash available for these rural farmers to take the emergency measures needed."

He said most of their available funds had been spent on expensive feed.

"In Durban, rainfall has been less than a third of the annual average, while the Efuyeni area appears to have received even less."

Thusi said he personally lost four cows in a week as the sudden cold, wet weather takes a further toll on Zululand farmers.

"Cattle, in an already weakened condition from months of the driest winter in living memory, are now dropping like flies as the wind chill factor pushes the unseasonably cold temperatures down further," he said.

He said he had lost livestock amounting to nearly R200,000 since the drought started.