From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, this is the Real Economy Report. Unilever South Africa is sourcing 40% of its sunflower oil from farms in Limpopo that use only yearly rains to grow their crops. Schalk Burger reports.

Schalk Burger:
Mookgophong sunflower farmers who are part of Unilever South Africa’s sustainable sunflower farming initiative say that the clay-rich soils in the area must be prepared and moisture conserved to enable sunflower farming without irrigation, which makes the proper timing for planting critical.

However, Unilever South Africa has provided two new sunflower cultivars to farmers who are part of the initiative and these cultivars should be able to generate more yield for each hectare, as well as have higher oil content in the sunflower seeds.

Unilever South Africa uses the oil in the sunflower seeds to produce margarine for sale on the local market and aims to source all its sunflower oil from sustainable agricultural sources.

Unilever SA chairperson Marijn van Tiggelen discusses sustainable agricultural raw material sourcing by the company.

Unilever SA chairperson Marijn van Tiggelen:
The project here for sunflower oil in Mookgophong started about two years ago. We started to partner with about 30 farmers right here in Limpopo to see if we can make sunflower crops and oil that we derive from it compliant to the Unilever code of sustainable agricultural practices. I am pleased to say that we have been very successful over the two years. It has been a lot of hard work, but we are nearing 100% sustainability for the sunflower oil that Unilever uses in its operations right here in South Africa.

I am extremely pleased to say that the practices they are using are also sustainable.

We think that this project, two years into it, has a lot of potential to be expanded.

There are still more hectares to be found. We also want to look at other crops. We are currently looking at some other potential crops, whether here in Limpopo or somewhere else.
There is also a possibility that we might start to export from here, which would be very interesting. However, it is not that easy to transport oils across an ocean, because very quickly the commercial side of things will start to catch up.
But we firmly believe that this is just the start of something great to come.

Shannon de Ryhove:
Other news making headlines this week: Mercedes-Benz South Africa starts work on its R300-million-plus BRT contract; and, African countries must learn infrastructure lessons from each other.

Mercedes-Benz South Africa’s Sandown Motor Holdings has won the tender to provide the 134 buses necessary for the roll-out of the 18 km Phase 1B of Johannesburg’s Rea Vaya bus rapid transit system. The deal is valued at more than R300-million.

MBSA bus and coach brand manager Dr Dirk Ansorge

Consultancy City Insight partner Sue Bannister says that, although Africa has learned many lessons from the UK and the US regarding infrastructure development, it’s important for countries on the continent to learn from each other, because they share many of the same challenges.

City Insight partner Sue Bannister

That’s Creamer Media’s Real Economy Report. Join us again next week for more news and insight into South Africa’s real economy.