The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) has taken a silent stance on Botswana and Namibia closing its borders to a number of fruits and vegetables imported from South Africa. But while South African farmers are pleading for intervention, farmers across the two borders say it will remove some unfair disadvantages they’ve had to contend with.
The two countries, who form part of the SACU umbrella along with South Africa, says their respective bans are to protect local producers and form part of a bigger attempt to become self-sufficient in food security.
Farmers in South Africa, however, maintain that the move is against trade agreements and have called for intervention from government and SACU.
In an interview with Food For Mzansi, SACU spokesperson Kungo Mabogo states that the matter can only be addressed by the three countries bilaterally.
“SACU only has a position when all SACU member states are involved, and they must form a common opinion. We cannot speak for Botswana, Namibia or South Africa as they are independent governments and have their structures,” he explains.
This comes after Christo van der Rheede, Agri SA’s executive director, appealed to agricultural minister Thoko Didiza and trade, industry and competition minister Ebrahim Patel. Van der Rheede has requested the ministers to intervene and to help ensure compliance with the SACU agreement.
SA farmers’ edge over Namibian growers
Botswana has blocked South African export tomatoes, carrots, beetroot, potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, garlic, onions, ginger, turmeric, chilli peppers, butternut, watermelons, sweet peppers, green mealies and fresh herbs from the beginning of the year.
Botswana announced the two-year ban in December 2021 in a move that was quickly mimicked by Namibia, who restricted imports from South Africa in January this year.
Akathingo Kapuka, a vegetable farmer in Namibia, tells Food For Mzansi that fruit and vegetable markets in his country are almost non-existent. Local producers struggle to secure markets in the country where most supermarkets are seemingly owned by South African conglomerates, he says.
“There are no markets, especially for smallholder farmers. Each farmer is on their own, which makes it hard to coordinate production for a variety of vegetables.”
According to Kapuka, locally produced fruits and vegetables generally cost more than those imported from South Africa, giving Namibian supermarkets an edge over local farmers.
“High prices for the inputs we use in the production of these vegetables are the main catalyst for high prices of locally produced vegetables,” Kapuka explains.
According to Namibian Agronomic Board (NAB) spokesperson Auguste Fabian, they currently import almost 100% of their farming inputs from South Africa. This means that South African farmers have a production cost advantage of almost 25% compared to Namibian farmers, due to high input costs in Namibia, Fabian says.
According to NAB, Namibia exported horticultural and agricultural products worth $400 million to South Africa in 2020 and the country imported produce from South Africa worth $5.2 billion.
Meanwhile, Kapuka reckons the ban offers Namibian farmers a unique opportunity.
“The opportunity currently lies in organising and coordinating farmers to work together, so that they produce enough quantities together, in a succession way to permanently fill the demand that exists in the Namibian market.”
By doing this, supermarkets will not have the luxury of forcing local producers to bid against each other in losses, Kapuka says.
Availability affected in Botswana
Ronald Lephodisa, a vegetable farmer in Botswana, says vegetable farming has seen a positive uptick in Botswana since the import ban.
“The farming community was excited. Even retired farmers went back to farming.”
The ban and recent frost has, however, affected the availability of some vegetables in Botswana.
Says Lephodisa, “There is still a shortage of onions, mushrooms, lettuce, green peppers, and cucumbers amongst others. Our extremely hot conditions also affect our yield.
“The biggest challenge is a lack of organisation in this sector as farmers tend to be reactionary in crop selection. For example, when there is a shortage of a particular crop, they will all plough it without any coordination whatsoever.”
According to Trading Economics, in 2021, Botswana imported vegetable, fruit and nut products from South Africa to the value of US$67.91 million.
SA organised agri not happy
Agri SA’s Van der Rheede has in the interim called on government to protect local farmers as South African jobs and revenue are also at stake.
In a media statement, Van der Rheede said, “South African farmers already faces immense competitive challenges as the national minimum wage of R23,19 far exceeds the labour costs in Namibia and Botswana at R12,23 and R5,05 respectively.
“The additional hardship the bans put on South African farmers violate the letter and the spirit of the Southern Africa Customs Union Agreements.”
Agri SA says government must meet with the Agricultural Trade Forum to take appropriate action before the agricultural sector suffers irreparable damage.
“If government cannot secure the reversal of these unilateral bans, Agri SA is calling on government to implement reciprocal measures and take such further action as is necessary to protect local farmers,” Van der Rheede said.
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