SA raises concerns as Botswana extends ban on fresh produce imports

Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Thoko Didiza has raised concerns over Botswana’s extension on import restrictions.

Botswana announced that it would extend and expand restrictions on tomatoes, potatoes, onions and other produce to July 2025 as the country moves towards becoming self-sufficient on food.

This has angered South African farmers.

South Africa supplied about 80% of the country’s food before a two-year ban was initially implemented from January 2022.

In the state of the nation address last month, Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi said the import ban had slashed the country’s fresh-produce import bill by 71%.

Concerns

Didiza‘s spokesperson Reggie Ngcobo said the minister is concerned about the negative impact the import restrictions will have on bilateral trade between the two countries.

“The minister will seek an urgent meeting with her Botswana’s counterpart in order to raise her concerns and further listen to her colleague on what may be the underlying concerns that has made Botswana to take this move.

“Minister Didiza raised South Africa’s concerns on these restrictions during the SACU [Southern Africa Customs Union] Summit in July 2023. There was hope that a broader bilateral engagement will take place between agriculture and trade ministers of the two countries to try and have a better understanding on what has occasioned such a move from Botswana,” said Ngcobo.

“We hope that the engagements will assist in resolving this challenge for the benefit of our countries and industry,” said Didiza.

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BEE agricultural produce

Last month, the Democratic Alliance (DA) lodged a complaint with the European Union (EU) and United Kingdom (UK) trade offices over new South African agricultural regulations regarding export permits, which will prevent farms that are “too white” from being allowed to export to the UK and the EU.

This after the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development published new notices in the Government Gazette in October and November in which farmers must meet black economic empowerment (BEE) requirements to obtain export permits for Europe.

The department said the gazetted notices were not new and mirrored the previous year’s requirements.

“About 96.2% of South Africa’s exported agricultural products are duty-free, while 2.5% enjoy partially free access to the EU and UK. Those that are partially duty-free, such as wine, juice, dairy and sugar are offered Tariff Rate Quotas (TRQ),” said Didiza.

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