Botswana, Namibia vegetable-import bans violate SACU agreement, says Agri SA
Industry body Agri SA has called on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza to urgently intervene in the unilateral action taken by Botswana and Namibia in blocking certain agricultural commodities from entering their borders.
The countries have banned the importation of tomatoes, potatoes, beetroot, cabbage and coloured peppers in a move which Agri SA believes is in violation of the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU) agreement.
These countries have cited the need to protect their own production as their reasons for the ban, Agri SA says, but notes that they continue to export their produce to South Africa.
The government of Botswana has indicated it will only review the ban in two years’ time, and will likely expand it to include more products.
Agri SA has asked government to act to arrest and reverse this trend, or at least implement reciprocal measures and take action to protect local farmers, such as halting of payments to these countries from the Common Revenue Pool, until the borders are reopened to South African commodities.
This fund comprises all customs, excise and additional duties collected in the common customs area.
“South Africa has been slow to act in demand that SACU member states comply with the agreement and our accommodating approach to the agreement has been met with harmful bans,” the organisation adds.
Agri SA says the Agricultural Trade Forum (ATF) has had no success in its requests for engagement with the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development.
The organisation states that South African farmers face competitive challenges as the national minimum wage of R23.19 exceeds the labour costs in Namibia and Botswana, which stand at R12.23 and R5.05, respectively.
Agri SA hopes that the department will meet with ATF soon and take appropriate action before the agricultural sector suffers irreparable damage.
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