SA acts on Botswana as veggie-ban dispute spirals
Lewanika Timothy | Tuesday October 22, 2024 11:40
Through introducing stricter Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) requirements, the move has been interpreted as a cost-drowning exercise that will squeeze the head of “small economies” experts have revealed.
South African researchers at the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC), a premier agriculture trade promotion agency in South Africa have accused Botswana of violating the South African Customs Union (SACU) agreement on free trade, as Botswana marches on a vegetable ban on 32 vegetable types.
“Nevertheless, members have been consistently imposing unjust regulations, violating the SACU agreement. Botswana and Namibia close their borders seasonally to restrict imports from South Africa. Botswana announced the two-year ban in December 2021 in a move that was quickly mimicked by Namibia, which restricted imports from South Africa in January 2022,” researchers revealed.
In May this year, SA through the National Plant Protection of South Africa took a decision to put in place new requirements for the contracting parties for imports and in-transit consignments of fresh fruits and vegetables destined for the Republic of South Africa. This was aligned based on PRA for quarantine pests (ISPM 11) and consignments in transit (ISPM 25).
“This move can be interpreted by other members as a retaliation to prevent them from accessing the South African market, pest risk analysis is a costly and time-consuming exercise, especially for small economies,” the researchers revealed.
From January 2022, government slapped a ban on the importation of 16 horticultural products, including onions, butternut, tomatoes, watermelons, carrots, potatoes, cabbage, and ginger. The ban was initially set to end in January 2024, but last December, government announced an extension to December 2025. The number of vegetables affected has increased to 32 from July this year.
The South African-based institute also noted that SA was beginning to feel the pinch of the ban as the value of its imports continued to decline.
“The imposed import controls are having a negative effect on South Africa’s export revenue. South Africa’s export revenue is going to continue to decrease as long as the import ban is in place,” they stated.
South African agricultural economists estimate that the value of the country’s vegetable exports to Botswana dropped by 55% in 2022, the first year of the partial horticultural import ban imposed by Gaborone to boost local production.