The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Tina Joemat-Pettersson and her provincial counterparts (MINMEC) have made a call respectively to the banking and insurance sector to extend the farmers’ debt repayment period, and for the insurance monies to be paid out urgently to enable the farmers to resume productivity.
MINMEC undertook to take up the cudgels on behalf of the debt-ridden farmers to engage with the banking sector to extend the farmers’ loan-repayment period and to convene meetings with the insurance industry to fast-track the payments to the insured farmers so that they can resume productivity as soon as the water levels have subsided to ensure food security for the country.
The decision was taken at a two-day MINMEC meeting, made up of the national minister and the provincial MECs, which started on Wednesday and ended today, at the CSIR’s International Convention Centre, outside Pretoria, to map the way forward and to coordinate a coherent and streamlined response to the flood crisis.
MINMEC resolved to expedite the much-needed emergency assistance to the flood-stricken farming communities.
The meeting emphasised the urgent need to provide a comprehensive assistance package to the affected farming communities, which would include, inter alia, reconstruction of damaged infrastructure such as dams, bridges, roads, canals, fences, irrigation systems, as well as providing the farmers with seeds, fertilisers and implements.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is working closely with other government departments who are part of the recently established Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) to fast-track social assistance to the farm workers whose homes have been flooded in the form of food parcels, blankets, clothing and evacuating them to schools and public halls.
“We view respectively the role of the banking and insurance sector as very critical to increase the loan repayment period for the affected farmers and the payouts will help them to resume farming productivity once the water levels have subsided, to ensure food security for the country”, Joemat-Pettersson said.
Joemat-Pettersson expressed a humble appeal to the private sector to lend a helping hand, saying that they should view their assistance as a social investment.
Organised agriculture met with the Minister this week and offered to put together a team of technical experts to advise the Ministry to respond adequately to the disaster.
“Part of our assistance will be to supply chlorine to help with water problems and for the technical team of experts to do a thorough soil-analysis to test whether or not some of the soil has been polluted”, Joemat Pettersson added.
The Minister requested organised agriculture to compile a consolidated list of their needs to her by midnight today so that she can engage her counterparts with a view to providing a comprehensive assistance package.
MINMEC has agreed to meet regularly to monitor the floods and to make urgent interventions where necessary as the rainfalls are expected to last for the next few months.
The national agro-meteorological committee will continue to regularly issue early warning information to the farming communities about the current weather and climate conditions.
For more information, please contact:
Selby Bokaba, spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Cell: 082 778 0245
