The drought will also cause rising debt levels for farmers and job losses for farm workers, said Zuma.
Farmers are facing a serious challenge of dying livestock due to the drought, he said.
About 2.7 million households are affected by the drought disaster, according to Zuma.
The Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries is providing support to farmers while the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs is coordinating the government response to the drought nationally, Zuma said.
The Department of Water and Sanitation has invested more than 450 million rand (about 28 million U.S. dollars) for drought relief, he said.
The funds have been spent on water tankers, borehole drilling and rehabilitation as well as the improvement of dysfunctional infrastructure.
South Africa is experiencing its worst drought on record, with risks tipping an already weak economy into recession as rising agricultural imports feed into rising inflation.
The drought is aggravating the on-going economic slowdown, threatening near-zero growth if not a recession in 2016, international rating agency Moody’s has warned.
Normally a net exporter of grains, South Africa will now need to import substantial amounts of grain to compensate for domestic production shortfalls.
The SA government has repeatedly rejected calls from the opposition to declare the drought “a national crisis”, although five of its nine provinces have been declared disaster areas. Enditem
Source: Xinhua
