WATCH | KZN farmer ‘cries’ over 12,000 litres of spoilt milk due to ‘power issues’

A KwaZulu-Natal dairy farmer lost 12,000 litres of milk after it turned sour due to “power issues”.

Alan Stratford tweeted the milk had gone sour due to lack of electricity. He sarcastically thanked Eskom for his loss.

He said his dairy had backup power, however, “when all your controls get burnt by the power supply that is the result, as nothing works”.

Stratford also tweeted a video of his milk buyer having to dump milk due to power issues, adding in Zulu, people are going to go hungry.

Kwanalu CEO Sandy la Marque said the KZN agricultural union was extremely concerned about the severe impact load-shedding was having on the sector.

“The constant disruptions to farming activities are impacting on food security, safety and security on farms, provision of water to animals and irrigation systems, production lines and cold chains are disrupted; the severe impact list goes on and on.

“In addition, reports of slow and limited assistance when there are breakdowns, exorbitant line fees with limited service, recurring maintenance issues, for example repeated phase failures are unattended; again the list goes on,” she said.

Kwanalu is meeting Eskom this week, when farmer representatives will discuss critical and life-threatening issues.

“The agricultural sector has a number of proposed solutions and, while we are committed, we urgently seek quick interventions and short, medium and long term solutions,” said La Marque.

TimesLIVE