Parliament, Friday, 13 August 2021 – The Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development conducted a joint oversight visit with the Select Committee on Land Reform, Environment, Mineral Resources and Energy to KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) this week to assess the impact of the recent riots and looting on the agricultural value chain.
The committees visited a number of sites, including the Mvoti Heights Farm (Mooi River), Freys Abattoir, Mfolozi Foot and Mouth Disease Control Point N2, Phangela Feedlot (Hlabisa), Mampontshi Piggery, ZHM Poultry Farm, Sezela Sugar Mills and surrounding affected farms, Meister Cold Storage (Pinetown), Ethekwini Fresh Produce Market, Snolink Cold Storage (Clairwood), Durban harbour, Mlalazi Sugar Cane Farms and Gledhow Sugar Mill.
Throughout the oversight, the committee noted that the loss of life has been the greatest tragedy. The Chairperson, Inkosi Zwelivelile Mandela, said: “We tend to forget that the loss of one human life can impact the food security value chain. However, we have observed the widespread impact on the logistics value chain and disrupted access to markets.”
He continued by saying that the consequences of this tragedy will remain for the foreseeable future as the sector mobilises resources to rebuild infrastructure, restore logistics, replace fleet and re-establish their operations. In some instances, operations will only resume in three months, affecting job security and household incomes.
Though many businesses in the agri-sector will be impacted, small-scale farmers, fresh produce markets and small farmers in the livestock industry have been more adversely affected, said Inkosi Mandela. Many small-scale farmers in the livestock sub-sector complained about the disruption and shortage of feed supply.
A range of supportive interventions will be required to save many small-scale farmers from disaster and bankruptcy. Inkosi Mandela noted that the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development will have to make their own financial reprioritisation, engage Treasury and make submissions to Parliament about how they intend to fund the estimated R1.5bn required.
The social cost of the disruption of food security has been exacerbated. This is largely as a result of the pandemic and pre-pandemic hunger, poverty and pressure on food security. The sugar industry has been hugely impacted and given that this is a critical sector for KZN, the implications for the province are far-reaching. The committee observed the burnt sugar cane fields and other destruction, which caused loss of crops, income, damage to the mills infrastructure, loss of jobs, the disruption of the food supply chain and loss of logistics capacity. This is devastating for both the local and International markets and has already impacted on exports. The department has to put in place mitigation measures, as it will take time to recover and restore the situation.
The committee’s impression during the visit was that looting and destruction of small-scale farming was not as widespread as it was initially thought it to be. Many deep rural communities responded to the call by the Zulu monarch, King MisiZulu ka Zwelithini, and traditional leaders not to engage in rioting and looting. This does not detract from the large-scale loss of life, destruction to property and security experienced by many communities in KZN.
Management and traders at the eThekwini fresh produce market acted swiftly to protect their businesses. Hence, the primary impact for traders at the fresh produce market was loss of income arising from disruption of normal trade. As a collective, the traders decided to shut down their businesses for four days and put their produce into cold storage. This saved them from destruction, but they have to deal with business recovery and the huge cost of cold storage.
The committee also saw the complete destruction of Meister Cold Storage and at Etlin Storage, the committee was informed of the huge cost of security amounting to R1,4m and rising since the start of the riots. They appealed to the committee for assistance as having the additional cost of security was not sustainable. The committee also heard that the packaging section of the plant operations had to close, which had an impact on the factory shop that supplies hawkers who deliver and supply chicken and frozen vegetables to communities. The section employs about 60 staff.
Inkosi Mandela advised that the province will have to vigorously engage President Cyril Ramaphosa's Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, as well the Disaster Measures announced by Minister of Trade and Industry and Commerce for assistance to restore the agri-sector.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, LAND REFORM AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT NKOSI ZWELIVELILE MANDELA.
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