Revenues doused by fires

Johannesburg - The spate of fires in the Western Cape has devastated agriculture in the province, resulting in insurance companies facing claims.

A team at insurer Santam is assessing about 50 claims, most of which relate to buildings and vineyards.

But they say it is too early to report on the extent of the damage.

“Early in 2016, runaway fires destroyed vineyards in Stellenbosch‚ Overberg‚ Simonsberg and Kogelberg, resulting in losses estimated at R240 000 a hectare,” said Shehnaz Somers, head of commercial underwriting at Santam.

“This included loss of income to farmers and labour costs to re-establish the vineyards.”

Last year, Santam paid out 596 claims worth more than R9.4 million to the wine industry, relating to agricultural assets.

In many cases, the claims were as a result of fire, accidental damage or liability.

Carl Opperman, CEO of Agri-Western Cape, said that in addition to drought and critical water shortages, the fires had placed the province’s agricultural sector under further pressure.

“Millions of rands of vineyards, orchards and agricultural infrastructure were destroyed, putting economic sustainability under pressure and causing a ripple effect on the community,” he added.