Despite the challenging
business environment,
perishable export volumes are
on the rise.
That’s according to Andries
Mouton, managing director
of Paltrack, a supplier of
software solutions to the
agricultural industry and a
subsidiary of Resolve Solution
Partners.
“Even though there has
been a decline in some
products and geographical
areas, the overall pattern is
positive,” he said. “Within the
aquaculture industry, there
is an increase in production
units, specifically within the
abalone industry.”
In recent years, the
aquaculture industry in South
Africa has increasingly been
driving and implementing
initiatives to protect the
survival of the abalone
species.
The Department of
Environmental Affairs shut
down the commercial wild
abalone industry in 2008
when stock levels reached
precariously low levels.
If poaching of abalone or
perlemoen, as it is most often
referred to in South Africa,
had continued at the rate
reported before the turn of the
decade, the species would be
in danger of extinction.
South African farmers and
researchers started working
proactively on a solution to
prevent the extinction of
abalone in the 1990s and
in the process established a
foundation for a sustainable
national aquaculture industry.
“Today, the South African
abalone industry is one of
the largest outside Asia,” says
Mouton. “Most farms are
expanding production and
the industry is set to grow. In
addition to aquaculture, we
are also seeing real growth in
technology adoption in the
fruit packhouse sector, which
is encouraging.”
Positive growth in abolone industry
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