Rescue plan for KZN farmers

Pietermaritzburg - The KwaZulu-Natal government intends helping beneficiaries of land reform battling to make their farms sustainable.

Thirty-five farms acquired through land reform that had received Land Bank loans were struggling because of rising debt, provincial agriculture, environmental affairs and rural development MEC Lydia Johnson said in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday. She was presenting the department's R1.844bn budget in the legislature.

"This is an area of challenges. It is common to find beneficiaries receiving farms in a dilapidated state, without equipment and infrastructure. The challenge is that post settlement has not been adequately funded."

The department would hold talks with the Land Bank to restructure the loans. It was hoped this would allow the farms to service their loans with "minimal future intervention" from the government.

The plan also involved sugar producers Illovo and Tongaat-Hulett.

- Sapa