South Africa: Sugarcane farmers report extensive damage, AgriSA calls for road repairs as a priority

Published 2022년 4월 20일

Tridge summary

The article highlights the extensive damage to sugarcane fields, infrastructure, and access routes to mills in KwaZulu-Natal caused by recent flooding, as reported by South African Cane Growers (SA Canegrowers). The survey found that 2,516.65 ha of cane was damaged, requiring total replanting, with losses estimated at R222.9-million. The floods have exacerbated the challenges faced by the industry, including cheap imports and health promotion levies. SA Canegrowers has requested financial and infrastructure relief from the government. Meanwhile, Agri SA welcomes the reclassification of the provincial disaster as a national disaster and offers to assist in the repair of infrastructure, especially the Durban port.

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Original content

Sugarcane farming industry body South African Cane Growers (SA Canegrowers) says preliminary results from a survey of KwaZulu-Natal cane growers reveal extensive damage from the recent flooding to cane fields, farm infrastructure and access routes to deliver cane to mills. By the afternoon of Tuesday, April 19, more than 300 growers had responded to the survey and reported that 2 516.65 ha of cane had extensive crop and root damage, therefore requiring the total replanting of these fields to bring them back into production. This damage comes to an estimated R194.9-million. Farm infrastructure to the value of R27.9-million has also been destroyed, bringing the total losses to R222.9-million, the association says. “A number of local roads and bridges were also washed away, which are not only the main transport nodes to mills, but also the access routes for farm inputs and workers employed on these farms,” SA Canegrowers CEO Dr Thomas Funke points out. This catastrophic damage comes ...

Source: Engineeringnews