There can be no surer sign of a country’s dismal failure to serve established exporters than when sector-leading traders decide to up sticks and rebase elsewhere, as is the case with Roslesia Farming in the Lowveld.
Thanks to the plodding ports over which Transnet has held sway for years, South African shippers are increasingly looking to neighbouring outlets for outflow - and the passion fruit producer has decided to uproot, literally.
Its 200 hectares of granadilla orchards will now be moved to Ghana, a politically welcoming and climate-friendly alternative to South Africa, to escape the challenges that local exporters of perishables face.
The West African nation’s proximity to Europe, relative to the distance it takes for South African produce to reach EU markets, was also cited as a reason for Roslesia’s decision to divest its passion fruit operations from home soil.
This was confirmed by the company.
Elsewhere, one of the farm’s shareholders, Charles Rossouw, told Farmer’s Weekly that waiting time at South Africa’s ports, made worse by a failing power grid that saddles perishable exporters will strenuous cooling system challenges, has caused fruit to become spoilt.
Roslesia’s decision is certainly not the first sign that South Africa’s logistics utility and its persistent port woes – congestion, corruption and concomitant ills – are failing the country’s agricultural economy, unlike anything seen before.
Citrus farmers in the Lowveld are increasingly turning to its nearest port, Maputo - and recently, Old Mutual Insure’s chief executive for specialty insurance, Samantha Boyd, explained that underwriters were beginning to shy away from local fruit exporters.
Quoting the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy, she said table grape producers were struggling to get produce out in under 21 days.
Most likely, grapes were idling at ports like Durban for about 50 days before finally leaving for markets abroad.
At such levels of risk, it was simply not feasible for insurers to underwrite exports, she said.
Apart from Ghana’s lush climate, the public-sector carpet it’s rolling out for investors, and proximity to Europe, its ports of Takoradi and Tema also seem to be running smoothly.
Both have been upgraded to the tune of $1 billion, so it stands to reason that the government of Nana Akufo-Addo would like to see some return on investment flowing back into Accra’s coffers.
Thankfully some local comfort is to be had in Roslesia’s decision to replace granadillas with macadamia nuts.
According to Rossouw, it’s a more robust strategy to cope with the situation at South Africa’s ports.
