According to local press reports in South Africa, fuel is trickling back into fruit-growing areas of the Western Cape, but is being rationed.

Picking was almost at a standstill last week because supplies of diesel ran out in Klein Karoo and Boland.

There are still some areas in the region experiencing shortage and growers are still warning of a threat to grape and peach harvests.

Meaanwhile, minerals and energy minister Lindiwe Hendricks has set up a government-private sector task force to co-ordinate and manage fuel distribution to ensure those regions in need are serviced.

Apricot-grower Neil Joubert

The fuel crisis hit apricot farmers hardest, as they were in the middle of harvesting, and with only a 15-day window to get the crop in, reported estimates are that the industry may have lost millions of rands from spoiled fruit.

Neil Joubert, an apricot farmer from Montagu, was quoted: “The worst hit seems to have been farmers in Stellenbosch, Paarl and Wellington. The fuel is trickling in now, but the big question is whether it will be back to normal this week, because now we start the peach harvesting and then it's grapes.”

The SA Petroleum Industry Association (Sapia) reported a massive effort was under way to provide fuel to the two sectors most in need: the fruit farmers in the Western Cape and summer rainfall farmers of Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Free State and North-West.

"There is a lot of hard work to do and a special effort is being made to organise transport and distribute the diesel," said Sapia director Colin McClelland.

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