EDITORIAL | The sugar industry in KwaZulu-Natal is facing significant challenges that threaten the livelihoods of farmers and workers. What can be done to address these issues and support the not-so-sweet industry's sustainability?
Gledhow Sugar Mill has become the latest sugar mill to enter into voluntary business rescue, piling pressure on the industry after a similar move by Tongaat Hulett in October. waZulu-Natal’s sugar industry is enduring a long, long winter. As the biggest employer in the most populous province in the country — one already burdened with an unemployment rate above 35% — its decline has fuelled social disintegration.The unravelling of the sugar industry has played out over decades.
The industry supports about one million livelihoods, employing 65 000 people directly and 270 000 indirectly. Diversification isn’t as easy to undertake for these farmers. For descendants of indentured Indian labourers, who are now landowners, there’s more room to diversify away from sugarcane, but it is difficult and expensive to switch to other crops.Other industries such as steel and textiles have faced not too dissimilar questions about their future since the opening of South Africa to international trade.
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