Don’t forget those closest to you when spreading your wings.
This is the advice from the Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz), which emphasises the crucial role of the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) in driving South Africa’s agricultural exports.
Trade relations between South Africa and its neighbours have seen some friction in recent years.
In December last year, Botswana finally removed a trade ban on the import of vegetables from South Africa, which it had instituted in 2021.
The Namibian ban, which started around the same time as Botswana, remains in place.
But in January Botswana instituted a new ban, this time on grains, including maize, sorghum and wheat.
According to Agbiz chief economist Wandile Sihlobo, the reason for this was the detection of the Goss’s wilt in a few maize-growing regions of the Free State, North West, Gauteng and Eastern Cape.
He said Botswana had banned imports of a wide range of products, although research showed that the risk was mainly in maize seeds for planting.
- Read the full article in our Freight Features edition on "Agriculture."
