17 Mar 2024

Participants in the agriculture value chain need to understand the importance of complying with Sanitary and Phytosanitory Standards (SPS).

Minister of Agriculture Mr Fidelis Molao said the SPS measures were quarantine and bio-security measures applied to protect human, animal or plant life or health from risks arising from the introduction, establishment and spread of pests and diseases. This also includes risks arising from additives, toxins, and contaminants in food and feed.

Mr Molao was speaking at the official opening of the produce cold storage facility at JP Roos Farm in Sherwood on March 15.

Launched by Safe Pro Cold Storage Solutions (Pty) Ltd, the state-of-the-art cold storage facility offered storage for 4 700 tons of onions and potatoes and enhanced quality shelf life of produce.

The Minister thus explained that the agricultural value chain did not concentrate on production alone, but involved all participants to ensure that the nation had something safe on their plates every day.

He commended the JP Roos farm and other partners for the cold storage facility which played a critical role in the supply chain of produce as it would ensure that there was fresh and safe goods all year in the country.

However, Mr Molao emphasised that all products brought for storage should be traceable including products leaving the facility.

He said the cold room must be compliant, urging farmers intending to use the facility to be compliant too.

He said the Ministry of Agriculture had been working with farmers to ensure adherence to compliance by all through the development of horticultural grading standards and production management standards.

He said producers would also be capacitated for farm registration.

“All these efforts are in line with the development of the agricultural sector as well as the facilitation to market access either locally or internationally,” he said. Furthermore, Mr Molao said the recently launched Mindset Change Campaign aimed at driving transformation called for all citizens despite race or religion to unite behind a vision of shared principles and bring back acceptable values.

He shared that the country was facing severe drought this season and only irrigated production was likely to survive the heat spells. To ensure food availability, he urged participants to utilise all the current available government programmes to enhance production.

For his part, the chairperson of the Tuli Block Farmers Association Mr Jan Stiglingh added that the Tuli Block produced 38 000 metric tons of food per year, constituting 46 per cent of the national demand.

He said the association was looking forward to joining hands with the government to grow the horticulture sector to ensure food security. He thanked President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi for allowing farmers the opportunity to produce food for this country by closing the borders.

“At first most of us were sceptical about this but we quickly grew into this whole thing,” he said.

Mr Stiglingh explained that the Tuli block produced a lot of things, wildlife, tourism, livestock and vegetable and fruit production.

The Tuli block alone, he said produced about 38 000 metric tons of produce per year constituting 43 per cent of the national produce and went down to 29 per cent of the national demand. However, he decried challenges such as climatic conditions impacting negatively on the production of vegetables.

The cold storage facility, he said was one of the spin-offs that came about to close production gaps and increase the quality of the produce as the facility enabled farmers to preserve their harvest for as long as eight months, effectively mitigating the impacts of extreme weather, perishability and surplus production.

He appealed to Dr Masisi to support farmers through infrastructure, adding that there were still areas that had poor roads and zero electricity connection and communication.

He also decried the problem of poaching and livestock theft in the Tuli block, calling for security forces to assist them.

In addition, he called for more capacity at Martins Drift border post to help with traffic congestion at the border, adding that it can take three hours or more for one to cross the border into South Africa.

Mr Stiglingh urged farmers to start looking for markets outside the country because they were starting to experience some surplus. ENDS