SA to confront Botswana over import ban on fresh produce

South Africans are pressurizing their government to hold talks with Botswana over the latter’s import restrictions on certain fruits and vegetables from the neighbouring country. The latest effort to have the ban lifted is likely to come from the Western Cape where provincial agriculture minister, Ivan Meyer, has revealed advanced plans to hold talks with private sector players in Botswana's agriculture sector to address the matter. Alongside Namibia, Botswana banned importation of tomatoes, carrots, beetroot, potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, garlic, onions, ginger, turmeric, chilli peppers, butternut, watermelons, sweet peppers, green mealies and fresh herbs with effect from New Year’s Day 2022. [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type="show" ihc_mb_who="1,2,3,4" ihc_mb_template="1" ] South African farmers had hoped that the country’s Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza, would engage her Botswana counterpart Fidelis Molao on their behalf to have the ban lifted. However, the ban is still in force nearly nine months later. Observers say while the two southern African neighbours countries are trying hard to maintain diplomatic ties, there is growing pressure on South Africa to confront Botswana and Namibia about their recent import restrictions. South African farmers believe the move is in violation of the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU) agreement but Botswana insists that everything was done in consultations with both SACU and the South African government. Meyer recently told SABC that Botswana and Namibia have taken what he described as unilateral decisions to impose restrictions on imports of vegetables and fruits from South Africa. “We will continue to engage with our counterparts by following a commodity approach, engage with the South African national department, our counterparts in these countries and SA Agric,” he said. Meyer argued that in terms of SACU, trade of goods between member states should be free. “And in terms of these agreements, we believe that Botswana and Namibia have violated these trade agreements between the member states,” he said. “The reasons that we have received from these countries is that they want to protect their local farmers.” “But they fully understand that they are members of SACU and free trade between the union members should be allowed. The free flow of trade between these member states is the foundation of the SACU agreement between member states.” Meyer added that there is no room for protectionism under SACU and that protectionism is the “enemy of free trade”. “I’m deeply concerned about this ban on fruits and vegetables from South Africa to Botswana and Namibia because the Western Cape is responsible for 55 of South Africa’s primary agricultural exports. So this ban had immediate and drastic implications for agriculture in the Western Cape.” he said. According to Meyer, Namibia and Botswana account for 60 percent of South Africa’s vegetable exports in the SACU region. “This is very significant and we take this ban on our imports by Botswana and Namibia very seriously because those are our biggest importing nations of our products,” he said. “So we will have to continue to engage and use all the available avenues at our disposal to resolve this conflict because what will happen is that farmers and producers will suffer from low profits and agric workers in general. So we have to resolve this.” Meyer also argued that there are guidelines and principles for member states in the SACU agreement. “In terms of this sudden and immediate ban on the import of vegetables and fruits from South Africa, they are in breach of those principles and values and we have to find an amicable solution. “It cannot be sudden that Botswana and Namibia find out that there are some imbalances, trade deficits or there are some incompatibilities in terms of the salaries that they are paying for their workers. We have made some agreements as to how all of these things should happen and those agreements normally happen within the agriculture forums and these forums are used to resolve these matters at a technical level.” But it is unlikely that Botswana will reconsider its import ban. Speaking on radio this week, agriculture minister Fidelis Molao said there was no turning back on the import restrictions. “Instead of opening the borders, we would rather add more vegetables on the restriction list,” he said. The minister acknowledged that the restrictions had resulted in some challenges in the local market and that there was insufficient engagement with stakeholders before the decision was taken but was adamant that these problems would be addressed. “We will review these restrictions after two years and try to address some of the challenges,” he said. [/ihc-hide-content][ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type="show" ihc_mb_who="1,2,3,4" ihc_mb_template="1" ][/ihc-hide-content]

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SA to confront Botswana over import ban on fresh produce

The latest impetus is likely to come from the country’s Western Cape

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SA to confront Botswana over import ban on fresh produce

The latest impetus is likely to come from the country’s Western Cape

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