Mzansi’s fresh fruit industry is one of the biggest exporters in the country, boasting with many opportunities for industry players. According to Uzair Essack, a fruit exporter and managing director at Riyp, exporting fruit is not all that easy but definitely worth it.
“Fruit is [among] the top five biggest exports of the South African economy, so it’s highly significant. We have great weather for fruit growing, we’ve got the land… so taking advantage of that and exporting is massive for us,” he explains in this podcast episode.
Essack shares that Mzansi is a net exporter, meaning we produce more than the country consumes. He adds how vital the industry is, especially when it comes to employment.
“If we take the labour, for example, it is not just the farmworker, it is the person who manufactured the boxes that the fruit goes into. [There’s] als the person that is the truck driver taking the fruit from place A to place B,” he explains.
In this episode, he also discusses:
- How a farmer can export fruit;
- Barriers to markets; and
- Some of the best commodities for fruit exports.
Catching up with the week’s #SoilSista
This week we celebrate #SoilSista Tlakale Mphahlele, who journeyed from food technology to being selected for the Corteva Agriscience Women Agripreneur Programme. Her commitment to empowering rural women in agriculture redefines triumph amid challenges.
Want to know more? Listen to the full episode of Farmer’s Inside Track.
Option 1: Click here to listen on Spotify (all mobile and other devices).
Option 2: Click here to listen on any Apple device.
Option 3: Click here to listen on Google Podcast.
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