SA exporters urge Nam to lift veg ban
Botswana makes turn-around
The body tasked with growing South Africa's agricultural exports has praised Botswana's new president, Duma Boko, for lifting a ban on South African vegetables.
Jan Cronje - The National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) has welcomed a decision by Botswana to lift a ban on imports of South African vegetables and called on Namibia to follow suit.
"The newly elected government of Botswana under President Duma Boko has taken a positive trade step by lifting restrictions on imports of vegetables from South Africa," said the council, a statutory body which seeks to grow export earnings and open doors for South African farmers.
"Namibia should take cue from Botswana to promote intra-Africa trade," it added.
The council said the ban had caused a loss of earnings for local farmers, while muddying the waters around how the single tariff regime envisaged by the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) is supposed to work.
Botswana and Namibia imposed their bans on most South African vegetable imports in early 2022 to encourage the production of local vegetables and reduce dependency on imports.
Phases
South African farmers exported around R500 million worth of vegetables to Botswana in 2021. Last year, because of the ban, these exports declined to R272 million, the council said.
Phase 1 of the end of the import restrictions, announced by Botswana's ministry of lands and agriculture two weeks ago, will include a basket of vegetables such as pumpkins, sweet potato, sweet corn, green beans and mushrooms.
Phase 2 will see the lifting of remaining restrictions on butternut, cabbage, onions, carrots, tomatoes and potatoes.
Botswana said loosening these restrictions will happen "gradually" and should be completed by 1 April 2025.
While Botswana did not provide a date for when the lifting of the Phase 1 restrictions would come into effect, the NAMC said it understood this to be immediate. - Fin24
"The newly elected government of Botswana under President Duma Boko has taken a positive trade step by lifting restrictions on imports of vegetables from South Africa," said the council, a statutory body which seeks to grow export earnings and open doors for South African farmers.
"Namibia should take cue from Botswana to promote intra-Africa trade," it added.
The council said the ban had caused a loss of earnings for local farmers, while muddying the waters around how the single tariff regime envisaged by the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) is supposed to work.
Botswana and Namibia imposed their bans on most South African vegetable imports in early 2022 to encourage the production of local vegetables and reduce dependency on imports.
Phases
South African farmers exported around R500 million worth of vegetables to Botswana in 2021. Last year, because of the ban, these exports declined to R272 million, the council said.
Phase 1 of the end of the import restrictions, announced by Botswana's ministry of lands and agriculture two weeks ago, will include a basket of vegetables such as pumpkins, sweet potato, sweet corn, green beans and mushrooms.
Phase 2 will see the lifting of remaining restrictions on butternut, cabbage, onions, carrots, tomatoes and potatoes.
Botswana said loosening these restrictions will happen "gradually" and should be completed by 1 April 2025.
While Botswana did not provide a date for when the lifting of the Phase 1 restrictions would come into effect, the NAMC said it understood this to be immediate. - Fin24
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