Floods in South Africa have cost the farming sector about 2.8 billion rand in damages, and farmers are hoping for a government bailout, an industry official said on Monday.
Heavy rains, mainly in January, killed more than 100 people and saturated farms in one of Africa's major food producers, leading the government to declare 33 municipalities disaster areas."The flood damages around the country run to about 2.8 billion rand, according to our assessments," Johannes Moller, president of Agri SA, told delegates at an agriculture conference.
He said crop losses accounted for 1 billion rand, while infrastructure losses on farms, mostly along the Vaal and Orange rivers, cost farmers about 1.8 billion rand in the Northern Cape, with the remaining 200 million in damages elsewhere in the country.
Moller later told Reuters they were hopeful government would provide financial assistance to get more than 1,000 commercial and emerging farmers back on their feet within 12 months.
"I'm quite hopeful that in the end that government will decide to give financial aid, because that's the only way that we can start rebuilding and do it within one season," he said.