FairPlay-hosted infrastructure webinar highlighted the widespread impact of rural municipal infrastructure failures on agricultural production and rural and national economies.

Speakers noted that industries such as poultry, the largest component of South Africa’s agricultural sector, need reliable electricity and water supplies and well-maintained roads.

When those failed, production declined, jobs were lost, and rural workers migrated to the cities.

“A broiler house turns feed, water, air and electricity into protein. If one input fails for a few hours, birds die. If it fails for a few days, a business fails. Municipal water, wastewater, roads and power are as real a production input as feed.”, said Kibiti Ntshumaelo, Managing Director and Principal Civil Engineer, Lekwa Consulting Engineers, in a presentation.

FairPlay founder Francois Baird, who moderated the session, recalled the closure of the Clover cheese factory in Lichtenburg, with the loss of more than 400 jobs, because of infrastructure failures. He also noted that a poultry producer had spent more than R100 million on a pipeline to supply water to its production plant, because the municipality could not.

Izaak Breitenbach of the SA Poultry Association (SAPA) said South Africa’s poultry industry was now the second most competitive in the world, producing chickens cheaper than every country except Brazil.

However, that competitiveness was threatened by declining municipal services such as water, roads and electricity that raised costs for producers. Despite hopes for improvement, municipal performance was not improving in poultry-producing areas.

Breitenbach also emphasised the importance of the poultry industry for the whole value chain, from grain farmers and feed producers to packaging and retail.

The discussion also looked at solutions, both immediate and longer term. Speakers highlighted the need for municipal maintenance, competence and accountability, and the potential for private sector participation.

Breitenbach mentioned three municipalities where local poultry producers were contributing to, or had taken over management of, the local water supply, to the benefit of all. The towns were Lekwa in Mpumalanga, Boshoff in the Free State and Hartbeespoort in North West province.

Economist Thabile Nkunjana from the National Agricultural Marketing Council pointed to the success of co-operation between a mining company and a municipality in Mid Vaal. He also emphasised the impact of poor water services on local communities and small-scale farmers.

Baird highlighted five practical actions submitted by consulting engineer Ntshumaelo. His suggestions were: ringfenced operational and maintenance budgets; putting engineers back in charge of engineering; prioritising municipalities with large operations such as poultry; industry co-investment; and accountability for actions.

Chris Campbell of Consulting Engineers South Africa said the country had a shortage of engineers and should make the best use of those available by pooling resources. He said there were several thousand private sector engineers who could help relieve the municipal shortage.

Baird concluded with the hope that the government would understand the problems and implications of rural infrastructure failures, because municipalities were “the next frontier” for the development of rural areas, the stability of agriculture and the growth of South Africa’s world-beating poultry industry.