Agri-services specialist Kaap Agri – which has a strong retail offering – expects prolonged drought conditions in certain farming areas of the Western Cape to slow earnings growth in the first half of the financial year to end September 2018.
He said that Kaap Agri’s businesses were feeling the most pressure in rural areas.
"In the country areas, the entire business community is related to the health of the farmers."
However, he pointed out that sales in Kaap Agri’s urban stores were growing at a sprightly 20% a year – mitigating the effect of the drought.
He said the company would only be in a position to provide more accurate full-year growth guidance around July.
Asked to quantify the effect of the drought on the bottom line, Walsh said expected compound annual growth rates of about 15% would be tempered by between 5% and 6%.
That’s a third of our growth rate – and not a third of our earnings," he said.
Although agri-services (irrigation and grain storage) represented 44% of turnover, the segment accounted for only 33% of trading profit.
Walsh reiterated that Kaap Agri was on "a very acquisitive strategy in the retail fuel space".
He said shareholders could expect the portion of capital expenditure earmarked for acquisitions to increase, but said that strict feasibility criteria needed to be met before any deals were struck.

In total this year 4.7 million children are at risk of dropping out of school across South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya – displaced from homes and schools because of the dual drivers of hunger: drought and conflict.
Save the Children is urgently appealing for funding to help keep children in school and to take schooling to the children who’ve already been forced to drop out.
The alternative is a lost generation of children who have sacrificed their education in favour of a meal.
Close to 21 million people across South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya are currently food insecurev, facing the new year in this state of emergency: their livestock dead or dying; their food stocks long eaten; savings spent and their land parched or inaccessible because of fighting.
That spells a 36% increase over 2017.
More children than ever are out of school.
In Kenya, according to the Ministry of Education, on average three out of ten children are enrolled in school in the drought prone areas of Wajir and Mandera.
David Wright, Regional Director for Save the Children in East and Southern Africa, said: “If 12,000 children drop out of school every single day this year, this region will lose an entire generation of children who not only won’t reach their potential, but will face grave dangers to their health and well-being.
Providing water and vac-cination campaigns during breaks prevents outbreaks of deadly diseases like cholera.
Education in Emergencies funding is critically low and has made up about 2% of the response funding for many humanitarian responses in the region.xi Save the Children recommends a three-point plan to address the impact of drought and conflict on children’s wellbeing in East Africa: Address food insecurity, tackle the growing nutrition crisis and ensure children are able to survive and thrive.

The Eastern Cape will officially be declared a national disaster area by March 15.
The declaration will see different national and provincial government departments working together to ensure farmers receive the necessary relief while groundwater exploration continues for water to be used by residents.
Cogta spokesman Legadima Leso said consultation aimed at working on a programme of action between various government departments was under way.
The three provinces also submitted requests for funding, with the Eastern Cape asking for R7.7-billion for drought alleviation.
Leso said Van Rooyen was considering the requests from the three provinces and an announcement would be made once it had been decided how much each province would receive.
For agriculture, money would be allocated to farmers so they could water their crops and get livestock feed.
Leso said the most urgent intervention at present was the drilling of boreholes.
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The top United Nations humanitarian official in Somalia has commended the drought relief and recovery efforts of the authorities in the northern state of Puntland, while cautioning that the current humanitarian crisis is far from over.
“We took stock, together with [Puntland’s] leadership, of the drought response as it has been so far, looking back to what has been a good year in terms of close cooperation and a very successful drought relief effort,” the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Peter de Clercq, said in Puntland’s capital, Garowe, on Saturday, in the wake of a series of meeting with officials, including the Federal Member State’s President Abdiwali Mohamed Ali.
“At the same time, we talked about the remaining challenges because we are not out of the woods yet by any stretch of the imagination,” he added.
Mr. de Clercq – who also serves as the Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative for Somalia and the UN Resident Coordinator – was visiting Puntland to meet with security, planning and humanitarian officials from the local government, as well as representatives of civil society organizations, to discuss the current drought response and other challenges in the region.
He added that, in areas like Sool and Sanaag, there are still massive needs and a strong possibility that famine-type conditions would develop.
“Our discussion was frank and candid, very fruitful,” the President noted afterwards.
“We try to address the underlying causes of the crisis, like food insecurity and livestock depletion, and to think of alternatives for people to make a living and to rebuild their lives,” he said.
In 2017, drought-related famine was averted through the efforts of Somalis and their international partners.
However, the risk is not yet overcome as there are 5.4 million people in Somalia needing life-saving humanitarian assistance.
Work is being done in all regions, including Puntland, to build and sustain resilience in all communities, especially the populations affected the most by the recurring cycle of drought and famine risk, such as pastoralists, displaced persons and fishing communities.

Navajo County did not receive significant moisture in 2017 to alleviate drought conditions that affect the livestock, farming and tourism, which has had an impact on many local economies.
By declaring a drought state of emergency for Navajo County, the board of supervisors hope it will prompt the secretary of agriculture to designate it as such, therefore making emergency loans available to producers suffering losses in the county.
Mark Carlisle, president of the Navajo County Cattlemen’s Association, said he was reluctant to ask the county for an emergency declaration.
“I kinda have a hard time ringing the government’s bell and asking for help for a private business.
I just don’t feel good about it, but everyone benefits from helping food producers,” he said.
If you can’t produce enough to feed yourself, you really have no power.” The 2017 Arizona Drought Preparedness Annual Report indicates Navajo County as one of the driest areas, with a 16 percent forage loss as of September 2017.
Despite a smattering of raindrops early Tuesday morning in Holbrook, and some rains across the area later this week, the outlook from the National Weather Service indicates above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation for the remainder of the winter.
“Due to the continuing drying conditions, we ask that the board pass an emergency resolution declaring a drought emergency in Navajo County,” Springer told the board.
Shelby Johnson, county executive director for Arizona Farm Agency, said 100 percent of funding is determined by the drought monitor.
Being a D3, it should have automatically triggered a payment for all of Navajo County.” In addition to emergency loan eligibility, other emergency assistance programs, such as Farm Service Agency disaster assistance programs, have historically used such designations and declarations as an eligibility trigger.

"We’re still in winter and there is time for notable improvement," Guinan said.
The statewide average precipitation for the period was 8.3 inches — slightly more than half the normal of 15.9 inches.
Ellis said the lack of rainfall last fall will affect the hay and forage growth this spring.
"If there’s a high drought, it may be more feasible to sell off some animals — although you need to consider tax ramifications.
It’s not going to be very good for our hay crop or pastures," she added.
In 2016, it was 1.3 inches, and 4.06 in 2017, slightly better but less than half as much as in June 2015.
MU Extension specialists from east-central, southeastern and south-central Missouri reported drought impacts to Guinan in the fall.
Because of dry conditions, farmers started feeding hay earlier in the season than normal, Probert said.
How to help Guinan encouraged Missourians to participate in the drought assessment process and submit information to the Drought Mitigation Center’s Drought Impact Reporter at droughtreporter.unl.edu/map.
Guinan suggests the following resources for those following Missouri’s drought conditions: National Drought Mitigation Center’s Drought Impact Reporter, droughtreporter.unl.edu/map.

MESA COUNTY, Colo. – There are several big issues surrounding the drought in Mesa County, impacting the water we drink, the water used for the food we eat, and the fish living in the Colorado River.
It’s certainly still not good, but I know earlier in the year snowpacks were pretty atrocious.
Now, it’s looking a little better but we’re still on track for a very low water year," said Ryden.
A low water year means the Colorado River, and the fish inside of it, will have a less space in their home.
Ryden said it’s not just the fish who will feel the impact of a dry year.
Those with Ute Water Conservancy District said their water supply depends on snowpack.
"We’re about two months behind in accumulating snow, and so it’s not a matter of catching up at this point, it’s just a matter of getting as much as we can possibly get," said Joseph Burtard, the external affairs manager for Ute Water Conservancy District.
For both VanWinkle and Ryden, it’s all about being responsible when it comes to water.
"Think about how you use your water and use it well," said Ryden.
Those with Ute Water Conservancy District said we are not in a Stage 1 drought at this time, but KREX 5 News will keep you updated if they plan to ask consumers to start conserving more water around the end of March and beginning of April.

The government announced that it had elevated the level of the crisis to a “natural disaster” after a reevaluation of its “magnitude and severity”.
As the scramble to prevent a drought continues, Mmusi Maimane, the leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance party, remained positive that South Africa could “defeat ‘Day Zero’”.
The start of the month saw each resident’s allowance of water dramatically cut from 87 litres a day to 50 litres.
It is worth noting that a single toilet flush alone uses 9 litres.
Day Zero is the moment that Cape Town’s water supply will be switched off, and residents must go to one of over 200 sites across the city in order to receive a rationed water supply.
A daily ration would be 25 litres if Day Zero goes into effect.
The Premier of Western Cape, Helen Zille, explained that once dam levels fall to 13.5 per cent in the region, the horrifying prospect of Day Zero will become a reality.
Cape Town isn’t the only city in recent times to suffer a water crisis.
In 2015 San Paulo, Brazil imposed similar water restrictions on its residents and narrowly avoided disaster.
The current drought facing the area is the worst in 100 years – the winter season that is believed to deliver the rain so desperately needed starts at around June.

The majority of San Luis Obispo County is now experiencing severe drought conditions, according to a new U.S. Drought Monitor report.
Only the northwest corner of the county is spared the “severe” designation — even so, it’s experiencing abnormally dry to moderate drought conditions.
A very dry winter has caused drought conditions to spread quickly from Southern California up the Central Coast and into the Central Valley.
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Cal Poly has recorded only 4.51 inches this rain season, as of Feb. 15, according to PG&E meteorologist John Lindsey.
San Luis Obispo’s average rainfall for this point in the season is 12.43 inches, meaning the city has received 36 percent of its typical rainfall, Lindsey said.
Last year on Feb. 15 — after San Luis Obispo recorded its rainiest January in 20 years — Cal Poly had received 33.48 inches of rain, which was 269 percent of its average, Lindsey said.
More Videos 0:38 Beach weather in the winter: ‘Summer’ comes to Pismo Pause 0:24 Hurricane-force winds push huge waves into Morro Bay Harbor 3:29 Videos: Montecito mudslides left path of destruction, from hills to beach 0:29 Search dogs help firefighters look for victims after Montecito floods 0:19 Flooding closes Highway 1 in Oceano 0:42 Take in the sights of a beautiful beach day in Morro Bay 2:06 Watch bubbles turn to ice crystals in subzero temperatures 0:38 Watch supermoon rise over Lake Tahoe on New Year’s Day 0:42 SLO County gets a dose of December rain 0:52 ‘King tides’ cause dramatic sea level shifts in SLO County Video Link Embed Code Facebook Twitter Email California’s snowpack is 22 percent of normal as of mid-February in 2018.
We all have a stake in saving them

State and regional water managers are considering permanently reinstating some watering bans and conservation programs.
Jerry Brown lifted California’s drought emergency status a year ago, after a wet winter that snapped a historic 2013-2017 drought, and the state ended his 25 percent mandatory conservation order.
Residents of an east Orange County water district used 203 gallons a day.
"I like the lawn," she said.
Residents of lower-income communities — with much less lawn — are some of the heroes when it comes to keeping water use down.
That includes residents of East Los Angeles, who used an average of 42 gallons a day, and people in Huntington Park, who got by on just 34 gallons.
U.S. drought monitors this month declared parts of Southern California back in severe drought, just months after the state emerged from that category of drought.
A winter of shorts and T-shirts, record warm days, and growing worry over water supply in Southern California are leading California’s Water Resources Control Board to consider next week whether to permanently reinstate some bans on water use that were imposed during the drought state of emergency.
Much of what snow does fall melts in place before spring runoff ever reaches the reservoirs that depend on it.
Water reservoirs are full from last winter’s welcome, near-record rain.