While the KwaZulu-Natal Agricultural Union (Kwanalu) says the recent floods and mudslides have highlighted the need for proper infrastructure maintenance to enable the growth of the economy, Agri SA has faith in the resilience of the country’s farmers.

Kwanalu believes the exportation of produce and the importation of agricultural-related goods have been ‘significantly affected by the recent severe weather conditions in KwaZulu-Natal, causing major infrastructural damage that is likely to have long-term ramifications for the agricultural sector’.

“This most recent disaster which has befallen KZN continues to demonstrate how fragile the agricultural sector is, and the importance of preventative measures, maintenance, economic nodes, and corridors being identified and being prioritised,” Kwanalu CEO Sandy La Marque said in a media statement.

WATCH: Christo van der Rheede, the executive director of Agri SA, chats to Izak du Plessis about how the recent extreme weather will impact the KwaZulu-Natal agricultural sector, and how consumers will be affected.

The province’s farmers are still reeling from the extreme storms that took place between November and January, which caused flooding of grazing camps and structural infrastructure damage.

Despite the numerous challenges, executive director of Agri SA Christo van der Rheede says food security is not under threat and supermarket shelves should remain well stocked. “South African farmers are very resilient; I think they will recover quickly,” he says.

The hardest hit will be the small-scale farmers, many of who do not have insurance, he says.

Van der Rheede says Kwanalu is monitoring the situation and actively assisting farmers.

In addition, the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza, has appointed a task team to assess the damage. KwaZulu-Natal produces 27% of the country’s milk, according to the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy’s Agricultural Outlook 2021–2030, and produces the bulk of the country’s sugar.

“This makes the sugar industry a very significant player in the country’s GDP,” says Van der Rheede.

According to him, the estimated infrastructure damage amounts to R27m, the field damage is R194m and 2 560ha of crops have been damaged.