South Africa Riots Threaten Food Supply

JAKARTA - The riots in South Africa have resulted in the looting of agricultural land and the prohibition of trucks carrying products to the market.

So said a South African industry official quoted by Reuters on Wednesday, July 14.

The rioters clashed with police and looted shopping malls. A number of people have died as a result of riots over demonstrations against the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma last week.

As a result of the unrest, several of the country's main highways have been closed.

“Farmers have suffered huge losses because they cannot get their produce to local markets and to shops,” said Christo van der Rheede, executive director at the country's main agricultural agency AgriSA.

Van der Rheede said one of AgriSA's farmers had reported a loss of 3 million rand (Rp 2.9 billion) from perishable products that could not be transported.

All sugar factories in Kwazulu-Natal - a major sugar-producing area and one of the provinces worst hit by the unrest - have been shut down after a sugarcane truck was hijacked. "Factories are under threat and sugarcane plantations are being burned," said South African Sugarcane Grower Chief Executive Thomas Funke.

"About 300,000 tonnes of sugar cane to date have been burned. This is approximately 180 million rand farmers' income," said Funke.

Sugar producer Tongaat Hulets (TONJ.J) said its factories and refineries were also closed.

Citrus Growers Association Executive Chairman Justin Chadwick said citrus exports had also been halted, with trucks unable to use the main arterial road to the port of Durban, where more than half of oranges are exported.

South Africa is the second-largest exporter of fresh oranges in the world after Spain.

President Cyril Ramaphosa warned on Monday, July 12, that disruptions to supply chains could lead to shortages of food and medicine in the coming weeks.

The impact is already visible in Durban. On Tuesday, July 13, consumers stood in queues at several supermarkets that remained open to buy basic necessities.

In some areas, where supermarkets remain closed, there is panic over food supplies.

"All shops are closed. We will soon run out of bread," said Neli Zulu, a resident of Pietermaritzburg, another area badly affected by the unrest.

Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg Additional reporting by Zandi Shabalala Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Mark Potter.