Berry producers are frustrated as bureaucracy continues to bar export growth. Speaking to FTW, Jean Kotzè, chairperson of the South African Berry Producers’ Association, said that while red tape was an unfortunate constraint for many sectors struggling under South Africa’s regulatory environment, the berry sector was hard hit. “Global and local demand for blueberries is skyrocketing, and China is leading the pack,” said Kotzè. Yet South Africa does not have access to the booming Chinese market. “It is probably our biggest challenge,” he said. “The process to gain access for South African fruit exports to international markets takes an extraordinary length of time.” South Africa applied to export apples to China in 2003, but the protocol was only finalised in 2015. Pear exporters applied at the same time and hopes are high that they will gain access in 2020. “At this rate, the protocol for blueberries could be finalised as late as 2045!” said Kotzè. “Countries like Chile and Peru are dominating that market, despite the fact that we have several key competitive advantages over them. “Access to the Chinese market alone could contribute an additional 12 000 jobs in the next five years. So, gaining access to that market must be one of our top priorities.” He said that currently, the sector could not even begin to talk about challenges to growth because it had no access to some of the fastest growing markets in the world. “When we gain access, we expect South African blueberries to make significant gains because we have key advantages on our side, including shorter transit times to the east than our South American competitors.” According to Kotzè, government needs to address the capacity constraints within the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development that are slowing down the process of finalising export protocols. “Addressing this bureaucratic blockage could be a significant catalyst for the growth of the agricultural sector and increasing fruit export income to the country,” he said. “We recognise that the solutions are not going to come from the government alone. We all have an interest in speeding up the time it takes to finalise export protocols. “We would like to see the government accept our offer of partnership to find solutions to these problems together. The berry sector is ready and willing to help government address its capacity constraints.”
Red tape trips up export prospects
27 Sep 2019 - by Liesl Venter
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FTW 27 September 2019
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