With the closure of the Wales sugar estate at the end of 2016, 774 private farmers who supplied the factory with cane were also affected and while many have had to find other alternatives to provide for their livelihoods, a few are hanging on and are now supplying the Uitvlugt sugar estate although now, they cultivate less than a quarter of the acreage that they did four years ago.
Some have abandoned the enterprise altogether and have sold off their acres of land, or rented them out. Others have no other choice but to leave them bare, financially unable to engage in cultivation. Meanwhile, those deciding to weather the storm have not only had to cut back on the amount produced, but they have had to cut back on labourers also, forcing those persons to seek jobs elsewhere. On some days, when they have paid enough out of their pockets to keep two or three relatives afloat, they can no longer afford to do so and would have to toil in the farms themselves.
