An energy crisis in South Africa has led farmers to consider switching to small-scale solar in a bid to keep the lights on and pumps running.
Earlier this week the country marked 100 days of consecutive "load shedding", which was caused by the country's ageing and poorly managed electricity grid, according the Agricultural Business Lobby's chief economist Wandile Sihlobo.
Farmers and food processors have been dealing with up to eight hours a day without electricity, leading to the culling of poultry, the waste of fresh milk and the inability to irrigate crops.
"We derive roughly half of our farming income from the farms that are heavy users of power," Mr Sihlobo said.
"In the countryside, it's a major crisis we're facing right now".
Nearly half of the country's wheat and a fifth of its maize are produced under irrigation.
Both the South African government and the private sector have recognised the impact of the blackouts on food security, and identified the potential national security risks stemming from disruptions to the agriculture and food processing sector, according to Mr Sihlobo.
Where's the power?
South Africa's publicly-owned electricity generator and distributor, Eskom, has failed to adequately maintain its transmission network, and has been marred by corruption and a recent incident of sabotage.
"During [former president Jacob Zuma's] era there was a lot of mismanagement of funds and of infrastructure," Mr Sihlobo said.
"But over time, we've also seen South Africa's consumption of energy increasing, while there's been muted investment in power generation since 2008."
Rough estimates of the cost of the current phase of load shedding sit at R1 billion ($81,161,500), but Mr Sihlobo said the exactly figure would not be known for some time.
"Load shedding only intensified in January, before that it was manageable at stage 1 or 2," he said.
At those stages, farmers can rely on their back-up generators, but they only last for about two hours.
The higher cost of diesel since the Ukraine-Russia war began has made them expensive to run.
At stage 3 – the level at the moment – and above rural businesses face up to eight hours a day without power.
Renewable revolution
There has been a surge in interest from farmers and food processors in small-scale renewables as they seek to insulate themselves from the unreliable national power grid.
Johannesburg-based Tiger Foods, one of Africa's largest food producers, announced last year it would install solar power at four of its manufacturing sites and have 65 per cent of its electricity consumption generated through sustainable methods by 2030.
In 2021, a pecan farm in the country's Northern Cape Province installed the one of South Africa's largest private off-grid solar farm to power its irrigation pumps, with an average daily production of 3,500 kilowatt hours.
In 2020, prior to the load shedding crisis, about 10 per cent of all solar installation was in agriculture.
That figure was projected to grow by 10 per cent annually, according to the Western Cape Government Department of Agriculture.
"Farmers have looking at this load shedding and asking if it's a chance to 'green' the agricultural sector," Mr Sihlobo said.
Small-scale solar and biogas infrastructure are proving most popular among farmers and food producers.
"Farmers with a strong enough balance sheet have already started to install some of these alternative energy sources," Mr Sihlobo said.
