By Colleen Dardagan
Millions of rands spent by the government on land reform projects in Zululand have been wasted so far, with many farms handed to farmers since 2004 lying abandoned and derelict.
More than 21 properties in the Empangeni and Eshowe districts, and reportedly many more across KZN bought by the land affairs department, lie fallow, producing only weeds, dead trees and choked sugar cane.
Amid increased concern about food shortages, these farms have derelict or ransacked farmhouses and packing sheds. On some, pump houses have been reduced to rubble and farming equipment destroyed or stolen.
Hennie de Villiers, a board member of the KZN agricultural union and chairman of the district agricultural committee in uThungulu - where more than 10 farms have been abandoned - said not only had land reform failed in the district, but it had also cost jobs and millions of rands in income from sugar cane, vegetables and export citrus.
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"At least 500 farm workers have lost their jobs. On one farm alone, over R9 million a year in income from export grapefruit has been squandered. All these farms were producing at least 60 tons of sugar cane a hectare a year. Now there is nothing," said de Villiers.
On Valley Farm, Confluence, Concor and Grass Farm, valuable citrus trees are dead, irrigation pipes have been ripped from the ground and productive sugar cane fields have been either burnt or become overgrown with weeds.
De Villiers said all the farms had been handed over as working entities.
The new farmers inherited water rights, electricity, tractors and other farm implements. Pointing to a rusted trailer used to transport sugar cane, he said it had not moved for five years.
"It's never been used. It's just been left to rot out in the open."
This while the sugar industry in the province fights for its survival amid persisting drought conditions on the North Coast, rocketing input costs, low global sugar prices and more than 50 percent of the industry's land now under claim.
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