The coronavirus has precipitated an unprecedented economic crisis. Sectors such as the agricultural sector could be also face challenges due to the lockdown that countries have enforced in the past months to contain Covid-19.
China’s markets are said to be the biggest buyers of Lesotho and South African wool and mohair and, manufacturing companies in China have closed their doors to prevent the spread of the virus, causing a build-up of fibre inventories.
Hence the need for the two countries to secure other markets. Failure to secure alternative markets could result in loss of income by all players along the value chain.
Most of the livelihoods of rural women and men are already being deeply affected by the Covid-19 crisis especially those that live in areas that depend mostly on the sale of wool and mohair.
In an interview with theReporter, Lesotho’s famous wool and mohair grower and member of Lesotho National Wool and Mohair Growers, Khotsang Moshoeshoe revealed that they have been negatively affected by the lockdown which saw stringent restrictions such as the closure of borders between Lesotho and South Africa.
“Things are showing signs of looking up now. The wool and mohair commodity is now moving and some of the people who had sold their wool and mohair through South African auctioneering company BKB are still getting their monies, even though we are being sabotaged by the authorities when it comes to the signing of documents to clear our wool to be sold in China.
“There are documents that need to be signed to allow our commodity to be sold in china but after the protracted squabbles between the wool and mohair growers and government, we have been experiencing a struggle to get our wool and mohair sold other countries, except Italy where the market is not very good,” Moshoeshoe said.
Another challenge that he said was a direct consequence of the lockdown is that of shearing, as he said they have not finished the shearing of goats, which means there will also be a delay in getting the mohair to be sold. However, he said they have already started shearing post the lockdown.
“The other challenge that has hit hard on us as farmers is that borders are still closed and we cannot purchase both animal medication and animal feed. As you know, the medications are bought from South Africa. We either buy them ourselves, or purchase them from local outlets that import them from South Africa. This problem, as a result, puts the health of our flocks at risk, which does not augur well for the quality of our product.
“It is also time for mating but with borders closed it is near impossible to for us to import the best breeds of animals from other countries. For the farmers that had already ordered such animals before the lockdown, it means they have not been able to procure them. This means the mating season will come and pass without the farmers having done the desired breeding. Now, the real impact of this will be felt next year,” he said.
According to the International Labour Organisation, Lesotho is ranked among the top mohair producers worldwide. It is projected that in the short term demand for non-food products such as cotton could be negatively affected. One could also expect that demand for mohair could be affected as it is linked to textiles and manufacturing.
The Absa Agri Trend report of February 19 pointed out that one of the aspects concerning the outbreak of coronavirus and fibre market trends in China was that the Chinese market is heavily dependent on the textiles and fibre industry. If the travel restrictions, lockdown and curfews were to persist, impacting sales of wool and cotton, the Chinese economy could be severely impacted. That is why for now Chinese wool buying has still remained strong.
Lesotho farmers in January this year resumed exporting their wool and mohair through the South African broker, BKB (Pty) Ltd. Since January this year trucks were seen in numbers taking the commodity to the company’s warehouse in Port Elizabeth.
This followed the passing of the Agricultural Marketing (Wool and Mohair Licensing) (Amendment) Regulation 2019 No 68 in the National Assembly late last year and the release of the Act in a government gazette of 29 November 2019.
Government effectively relaxed the controversial Agricultural Marketing (Wool and Mohair Licensing) (Amendment) Regulations No. 65 of 2018, that had restricted the movement of the produce outside Lesotho’s borders and only allowed for the product to be auctioned through the Lesotho Wool Centre (LWC).
Controversial Chinese businessman, Stone Shi, is a significant shareholder in the LWC and the government has been accused by farmers and the opposition of enacting the 2018 regulations to give Shi a monopoly in the wool and mohair industry. The government, however, argued that the regulations were meant to grow the local industry and increase the local farmers’ earnings.
According to IFAD, wool and mohair form the bedrock of Lesotho’s rural economy. Producers range from smallholder farmers with small flocks, to breeders of large flocks of superior gene-quality animals. With over 1.2 million sheep and 845,000 goats there is a lot of potential to develop the industry. Wool is the leading commodity exported by Lesotho and mohair is the fifth largest.
On average, one sheep yields almost three kilos of wool and, in the case of mohair, one goat yields under one kilo of wool.
