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Marco and Regine Seefeldt have been farming on the banks of the Black Nossob River, 90km east of Windhoek, since 2000. They lease the 5 000ha farm, Silversand, from Marco’s father, Bernd, while Regine inherited Otjihundu (8 000ha) from her family.

Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) is bringing relief to farmers hard hit by the ongoing drought in South Africa.

While most of the Free State has experienced substantial amounts of rain, easing the drought burden, some farmers in the Luckhoff area have been less fortunate and are still in need of drought relief in the form of feed.

While some farmers in the Free State have renewed hope for the season after the widespread rain at the beginning of February, those south and west of Bloemfontein are still struggling.

Heavy, widespread rains have been reported in the drought-stricken areas of the North West during the past week.

Drought-stricken farmers in the Free State were in a desperate financial situation, according to Free State Agriculture’s operational manager, Dr Jack Armour.

The previous summer’s drought in the eastern parts of Limpopo was said to be one of the worst since 1983.

The SA public has rallied around the drought-stricken farmers in the North West Province and donations to the value of R120 000 had been paid into Agri North West’s bank account as at Monday, 9 December, 2013.

Good rain has fallen over the grain production areas of the western Free State and most of the grain producers have started planting.

Some 14 000 bags of fodder weighing 50kg each have been distributed to 23 346 farmers who applied for drought relief in the North West since Monday, 18 November 2013.

The devastating drought in North West, especially in communal areas became even clearer from the air.

As drought grips many parts of South Africa, it has again become clear how vulnerable rural communities are to weather extremes. Mike Burgess travelled through the southern Free State and northern Eastern Cape and reports on the dry conditions and devastating fires that have pushed communities to the limit.