South Africa: Sugarcane farmers rescued in the nick of time

Industry players are hoping a fertiliser boost by the government worth over R40 million will be enough to help struggling sugarcane farmers in Mpumalanga get back on their feet. This follows a special visit to the province by the national minister of agriculture, Thoko Didiza, together with the South African Farmers Development Association’s (Safda) chief executive officer, Dr Siyabonga Madlala. During the visit, fertilisers and a cheque to the tune of R42.2 million were handed over to the Nkomazi sugarcane small-scale growers, which is about 1 400 farmers. According to Madlala, the donation by government could have not come at a better time for these sugarcane growers who are barely coping with the high operational costs involved in sugarcane production. This, he pointed out, is impacting on their productivity, profit, and growth. “We are very excited as farmers because we had no hope of how we would fertilise our seeds. With the trippling of the fertiliser prices, farmers could ...