Baked, mashed, fried, roasted or boiled, South Africans love their potatoes. This staple lurks in just about every vegetable basket or cupboard in Mzansi. But have you ever stopped to wonder where your potatoes come from?
South Africa’s total land area is approximately 122.3 million hectares, on which about 52 355 hectares of potatoes are planted every year.
According to stats by Potatoes South Africa, 83% of this is produced under irrigation, meaning water is applied to the soil through various systems of tubes, pumps, and sprays. The remaining 17% is watered by rainwater.
Potatoes South Africa is a non-profit company whose primary objective is to serve as the mouthpiece of potato producers in the country.
A lucrative business
Is there money in potato farming? The answer is an astounding yes. Due to the wide diversity in types and high consumer consumption, potatoes are a good enterprise option for many growers.
In South Africa, this is a multi-billion Rand industry. In fact, this commodity contributes about R9.82 billion to the South African economy. This is about 3% of the total agriculture gross production value in 2022.
Where are potatoes grown in Mzansi?
In South Africa, potatoes are produced in 16 regions across the country.
They include Limpopo, Loskop Valley, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Eastern Free State, Western Free State, North West, Northern Cape, South Western Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, North Eastern Cape, Southern Cape, Ceres, Sandveld, and South Western Cape.
According to FP Coetzee, national service coordinator from Potatoes SA, Limpopo is the biggest potato-producing region in South Africa, planting about 12 000 hectares. “With 9 000 hectares, Free State is the second biggest potato producer.”
Last year, farmers in Limpopo planted about 14 000 hectares of potatoes yielding 816 000 tonnes. Nationally about 260 million 10kg bags of potatoes are produced which made their way into various retail shelves and informal markets across the country.
Mzansi cracks top five in Africa
Did you know that South Africa is one of the top five potato-producing countries in Africa? Yes, that’s right.
Egypt produces 21% of Africa’s potatoes, while Algeria produces 18%, and South Africa 11%. However, the local industry shows an increase of 52 tons per hectare every year. Meanwhile, Kenya produces 7.4% of Africa’s total potato output and Morocco’s 6.8%.
Africa is also the fourth biggest potato producer in the world, producing 7.3% of the world’s total potato output.
What about exports?
Trade plays a crucial role in providing livelihoods for potato farmers and people employed along the food supply chain.
South Africa exports potatoes to countries like Eswatini, Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia, Congo, Mauritius, Seychelles, and Ethiopia.
“Some [locally produced potatoes] are also exported to Namibia, Botswana, some to Zimbabwe and a lot are exported to Mozambique,” Coetzee said.
According to Potatoes SA, in the month of March 2023, South Africa exported more than 14 million kg of potatoes to 15 different African countries.
Industry challenges
South Africa’s potato industry has undergone several challenges. A major one is the importation of cheap frozen potato products from other countries.
The battle between the local potato industry and global importers has a longstanding history, with South Africa being considered a prime destination for dumping frozen processed potato products.
The industry has had to come up against high volumes of below-cost frozen French fries that land on SA shores from the Netherlands and Belgium.
But why import when we have a sufficient supply of potatoes locally? Well, imports would only be required if a local shortage is occurring and there are not enough to meet consumer or processing demand.
As it stands, South Africa has a sufficient supply of fresh potatoes.
Impact of potato dumping
In an article published on Food For Mzansi, Potato SA’s head of marketing, Willie Jacobs explained that the practice of potato dumping holds some harmful consequences.
These include further economic decline and hitting where it hurts most, the livelihoods of South African farmers and workers and their families.
He added that irregular imports are detrimental to a viable local economy; hence the implementation of consistent anti-dumping measures is essential.
Furthermore, South Africa imports potato wedges or other cuts or slices and whole potatoes, prepared by blanching in water and prevented from discolouration by blanching in oil, frozen but not further prepared or processed.
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Buy local and support jobs
The South African potato industry is a key employer, providing employment to an estimated 45 000 permanent and seasonal labourers. So when you buy local potato products you support thousands of jobs along the potato value chain.
The local potato industry, depends on the collective efforts of consumers, businesses, and government to embrace and support local growers and producers.
This is why the environmental benefits of buying local produce are obvious.
More than that, by buying and selling locally, the revenue remains within South Africa, allowing the industry to drive and sustain the local economy, secure and promote jobs, and ultimately rebuild the country.
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