Farm hands desert jobs

Workers are leaving farms in droves to settle in towns and cities, parliament heard yesterday. And the drought means a further influx is on the way, with 66% of farmers in the Free State expecting to lay off workers if this year's harvest is as poor as expected.Margareet Visser of the University of Cape Town's labour and enterprise working group briefed parliament's portfolio committee on rural development on the outcomes of a study into the living conditions of farmworkers.