The packhouse was established to primarily package produce from the Selebi-Phikwe Citrus (SPC) farm, which began harvesting last week after it was commissioned three years ago. Botha said allowing produce from outside can compromise their ability to serve their international markets.
Citrus farmers in the SPEDU region have previously expressed desire to utilise the SPP once it has been commissioned. The packhouse has since been commissioned. “We will be very wary of allowing fruits from outside because we have to strictly adhere to phytosanitary standards, which are crucial for ensuring the quality and safety of our produce.
“We serve very sensitive markets,” said a non-committal Botha. Botha noted that some citrus trees in the Tuli Block area, where some of the country’s major citrus farms are located, were sourced from the Limpopo area in South Africa, which is a black spot prone area. This he said ultimately means that citrus from trees procured from Limpopo will not be totally allowed at the SPP.
“We really run the risk of falling short of compliance in the process, limiting our access to lucrative markets and stunting our potential for growth if we are not precautious. We want to always remain a black spot free area. Any breach of compliance protocols will be a huge set back to the farm,” Botha added. He pointed out that the markets they have secured so far are not easy to penetrate, which is why it is vital to ensure that phytosanitary requirements are always met without fail. Currently the produce from SPC is sold to Canada, the United Arab Emirates and the European Union, with a view of penetrating the lucrative Chinese and USA market soon. When officially marking the first harvest at the SPC on Thursday, President Mokgweetsi Masisi acknowledged that it might be challenging for other farmers to bring their produce to the state-of-the-art packhouse.
“The challenge is for these experienced pioneers to include and orientate smaller farmers in compliance with the phytosanitary requirements around them as well as local cooperatives in the value-chain eco-system through collective actions on market access requirements such as Quality Assurance, Product Traceability, Audits and Certification as well as other such intricate procedures for compliance,” Masisi said. This year, SPC will produce about 9, 000 tonnes of citrus fruit being lemons, grapes, and oranges, with an exponential production growth annually. Twenty-five percent of the produce from the farm will go into the local market this year, a development that is expected to greatly reduce the country’s citrus import bill. Annually, Botswana imports over 5, 773 tonnes of citrus, mainly oranges, mandarin, clementine, grapefruit, pomelos and lemons.
The trees at SPC will reach their full production at the age of 16 years and ultimately increase supply capacity to both local and global markets yearly, including the export of patented pedigree fresh citrus fruits.
