A decline in the number of dairy farmers has added to unemployment, the Milk Producers’ Organisation (MPO) said on Tuesday.
The MPO said the number of milk producers has fallen from 7 200 in 1998 to the current 3 800.
The managing director of the MPO, Etienne Terre’blanche, said an estimated 66 000 people worked on dairy farms.
”Over the past 10 years 28 000 job opportunities were lost in the primary sector,” he said.
He said two years ago milk processors dropped the price producers received for milk from R2 per litre to R1,78. Soon thereafter the price of maize and other grains rose, putting the profitability of milk production under pressure.
”Milk producers could no longer produce at these costs and many producers used favourable meat prices to stop milking,” he said.
The demand for dairy products continues to grow.
As a result of lower supply and greater demand, consumers would continue to experience milk shortages for a few more months, Terre’blanche said.
The milk shortage was felt more keenly in certain areas of the country where popular brands are conspicuously absent from shelves.
”The causes for these shortages are geographical and, among others, a result of milk producers’ relationship with their buyers as well as the drought experienced in some parts of the country,” he said. — Sapa