Commentary: Cape Town Water Crisis & Impacts on Citrus Agriculture

Briefly, under the direct influence of the recent severe drought (Wolski, 2018) resulting in low rainfall and dam levels, Cape Town is driven into a water crisis and a potential “Day Zero” situation where taps are turned off. This is compounded by a myriad of indirect influences such as mismanagement, power and political factors (Muller, 2018). While the crisis may seem to have been averted thanks to active local participation (Mahr, 2018), it is important to study the asymmetric impacts from the situation before taking appropriate actions. Specifically, this post will examine the agricultural industry in the region that have also suffered but have been overshadowed largely by media coverage on the city of Cape Town. Based on various online resources, this post will provide a commentary on the stakes involved in Cape Town Water Crisis and with a particular interest in export-oriented citrus production.

To understand the role of agriculture in the water crisis, it is important to identify that the Western Cape Water Supply System(WCWSS) which is a regional water management system provides 64% of its water supply to Cape Town and 29% to agriculture. While warnings in 2015 have called for 20% reduction in water usage, no restrictions have been placed on agriculture and water set aside for agriculture have even been reported to be over-allocated (Muller, 2017). Despite overlooked institutional management, farmers have been reported to reduce their water usage as much as 80% and farmers such as those in Groenland Water Users Association that are accustomed to the drying climate took the initiative to release water from their private dams back to Cape Town to help fight the water crisis. These water users associations are a group of water users in an area that ensures water is distributed equitably, assisting resource-poor farmers and also having a say in the municipal management of the resource. However, all these should not downplay or undermine the difficult reality for some growers in areas affected by the severe drought.

Amidst a water crisis, some farmers are forced to abandon farms and agricultural employment have dwindled (Mahr, 2018) and a host of other problems including farmers bankruptcy, suicides, high food prices and social unrest from job losses may surface (Johnston, 2018). In addition, across the Western Cape agriculture sector, there had been a 20.4% drop in production of crops including grapes and citrus from 2016 to 2018. With regards to export-oriented citrus agriculture, a prediction of 7.7% reduction in citrus production and income loses of R259 million is expected in 2018 for the region. Regardless of a reduction in citrus production in the Western Cape, there is still a clear inclination toward high-valued export crops in the form of citrus as seen in the 35% growth since 2014. On the overall export impacts, an increase in production of tangerines/mandarins in other regions of South Africa helped to minimize the decrease in export due to drought to about 2%  whereas lemons/limes are estimated to increase by 7% (USDA, 2018). Therefore, South Africa is still expecting an overall record citrus crop this year as the fruit is coming to maturity recently. Clearly, the impacts on agriculture have been asymmetric or uneven as large-scale agricultural communities are able to curtail their use of water and impose measures with minimized losses whereas other less fortunate farmers including small-scale agriculture are susceptible to greater disruptions.

While highlighting the agricultural impacts and response alongside the cape town water crisis, I posit that the discussion of water management is inseparable in the wider discourse of socio-economic development, space and resource distribution. With competing dominant users in the Western Cape Supply System that is increasingly vulnerable to disruptions from drought events, is supporting an export-oriented agricultural in South Africa economy still sustainable?

Even though domestic users can impose water restrictions and regulations to curb with water shortages, the agricultural industry, on the other hand, is heavily dependent on water resources. Can agricultural growth be compromised to increase allowance on domestic use during times of water crisis? Or can agriculture look towards increasing their resilience to drought and reduce their water usage to allow more water for domestic users? The ability for farmers to release water to increase Cape Town’s local's resilience against Day Zero highlights a positive note on how dominant water users can have a considerable impact on each other in the Western Cape Supply System. As such, there is a need to evaluate the role of agriculture in the South African economy. Is planting citrus to satisfy global commodity demands a priority? Or is it time to re-evaluate agriculture water demands as Cape Town runs dry?

One thing for sure, either sides need to compromise and there will be trade-offs to achieve a fine balance and resilience against future drought events.