DIDIZA: SA WON'T RUN OUT OF SUGAR DUE TO KZN FLOOD DAMAGE

Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza said that a committee had been set up in KwaZulu-Natal to look at immediate interventions for farmers after the floods.

FILE: Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza. Picture: @DAFF_ZA/Twitter

Kaylynn Palm | 

CAPE TOWN - Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza said that a committee had been set up in KwaZulu-Natal to look at immediate interventions for farmers after the floods.

The torrential rains and ensuing flooding has damaged hundreds of hectares of farmland.

The cane growers association said that the total estimated damage stands at almost R223 million.

Minister Thoko Didiza said they are responding to the immediate needs.

"One of the things that came out uppermost in this discussion was the need for assistance in accessing roads into farms [so that] food can move to markets and get inputs going into farms. I think that will be the immediate intervention that we will have to make," Minister Didiza said.

She said consumers need not be concerned over the availability of sugar.

"We would like to really make sure that we don’t have panic thinking that because of the impact that might have happened we are going to run out of sugar, we are not," she said.

The minister added that while they had been given damage estimates, her department would conclude assessments speedily.