North West farmers are set for a major trade revival as South Africa’s immediate neighbour Botswana lifted a ban on the country’s vegetable exports.
This after Botswana’s newly elected government led by President Boko Duma, announced a phased lifting of restrictions on 16 vegetables imports from South Africa expected to be completed by April 2025.
The provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has described Gaborone’s decision as a win for the local farmers particularly from the province that has borders with Botswana.
Speaking on You FM Newshour, MEC Madoda Sambatha, said the ban had a negative impact on local farmers who previously supplied Botswana’s market with fresh produce.
“This has impacted them very severely, because remember that when you’re talking about areas like Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality which is very close to Botswana, sharing borders with the country, people sharing the same culture and speaking the same language.
So, the impact has been that those that were predominantly export based to Botswana had to find local market in South Africa to then diversify their trade to increase more locally” added Sambatha.
Botswana lifted a ban on vegetable imports from South Africa in phases, starting immediately until April 2025.
According to the then Botswana government administration, the ban was put in place to protect local producers and ensure food security.
“In terms of the current lifting of the ban, we are allowed to export to Botswana pumpkin, sweet potatoes, green beans, mushrooms and eggplant, you can export all those things to Botswana even today.
The second phase will kick off in April this year and in that phase South African farmers can export beetroot, butternut, onions, tomatoes, sweet pepper, potatoes and watermelon,” explained the MEC.
The lifting of the ban is also anticipated to help restore good relations in the Southern African Customs Union (SACU).
“The decision as you’ll recall was taken outside the normal SADC regulatory processes on trade.
So, if a country has a problem of trade with another country, that matter is discussed by Agriculture Ministers of the affected countries and then referred to SACU which is a trade regulatory body of SADC.
But in this instance both Botswana and Namibia never referred to SACU the trade dispute they had with South Africa,” remarked Sambatha.
Botswana is a significant trade partner for South Africa, accounting for approximately 15% of our country’s total vegetable exports as of 2021.
At the time of the ban, South Africa’s vegetable exports to Botswana decreased by almost half to R272 million in 2023.
