WANDILE SIHLOBO: Rebuilding of KZN infrastructure should be a springboard for growth
Focus and spending on the network industries and municipalities’ performance will benefit not only agricultural sector after recent floods
KwaZulu-Natal is a major agricultural province with significant production of various products such as sugar cane, fruit, dairy, and poultry. Roughly 30% of SA’s dairy herd is there along with 12% of the country’s chicken, eggs and pigs. Almost 81% of the country’s sugar is produced in the province. The province is also a major producer of macadamia, among other fruits.
These industries were not spared from damage by recent floods. The SA Cane Growers Association indicates a substantial area where fields were destroyed and require a total replant. There was also extensive damage to on-farm infrastructure, which, combined with field damage, brought the total financial losses in the province’s sugar cane industry to an estimated R222m. The survey of the full damage is still under way, which means that this figure could be adjusted in the coming days...
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