South Africa's fresh produce industry has been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately. With recent worker strikes and farm violence – primarily in the Hex River Valley region of the Western Cape province – causing an estimated £33 million in direct losses, the government reacted by increasing the minimum wage of agricultural workers by 52 per cent.

But with spiralling input costs across the board, many fruit producers now fear for the future and want a quick solution to ensure the country's fresh produce industry can continue to grow. 'The government must create a business-enabling environment where farms can prosper or social problems will persist,' warns Desmond Mudge, MD of Chiltern Farms, a Villiersdorp-based family-run business of 200 hectares which supplies top fruit to the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury's.

During the recent troubles, a fire set by protestors on a nearby farm almost reached Chiltern's orchards, and Mudge insists that the government, led by the African National Congress (ANC), must now move on and work more closely with businesses in order to enable more entrepreneurial opportunities for black workers. He explains: 'This current government on one hand is pro-business and on the other is anti-business due to issues of the past. They want us to prosper but raising rates so suddenly will not help.'

Mudge's views are shared by Charles Hughes, MD of apple exporter Tru-Cape, who believes worker wages should have been raised gradually over a five-year period. 'Back in 2001, 30 per cent of farms in South Africa were lost due to economic pressures and I'd anticipate 20 per cent of farms in the Western Cape will go out of business following the most recent rise to the minimum wage,' admits Hughes.

However, Hughes insists that the industry remains resilient and believes its investment in innovation, with 600 new cultivars currently in development, continues to set it apart. South Africa remains a vital player in plugging the gap in the British top-fruit season with 30 per cent of its apples and 11 per cent of its pears exported into the UK last year, according to the country's growers' body Hortgro.

Hortgro is expecting record volumes of apples and plums, with exports predicted to over the season, and it is clear that the industry remains resilient.

Hortgro's executive director Anton Rabe admits that there has been an 'unacceptably high' level of auditing from UK supermarkets in recent years and confirms that the country is now close to creating a single auditing process, which he believes will further boost export efficiency.

'We have reached the stage where we can have a single audit and I am confident within the next two to three years there will be a fully operational single South African solution to international market requirements,' says Rabe.

But despite the potential of future plans, the question still lingers on how a 52 per cent rise in the minimum wage of workers will impact on growers and whether it could lead to job losses. Rabe insists that the rise won't impact too heavily on the country's fresh produce industry in the short term as it was already paying 25-35 per cent, on average, above the previous statutory minimum.

While Rabe admits the country is now 'seeking out' mechanisation to aid growers in the future, he says that 'machines will complement rather than replace workers' and that there won't be an impact on employment in a country where 25 per cent of the population is without work, according to Stats SA data. Nicholas Dicey, chairman of SA Apple and Pear Producers' Association (SAAPPA), says that fruit prices will now have to rise in order to support growers. 'As well as the minimum wage going up, costs have also gone up for electricity and fuel costs while fruit prices have remained stable. 'We've had to rely on exchange rate changes to increase turnovers, which is no longer sustainable and we now need the rest of the supply chain to help ensure that the primary producer is compensated enough to carry these rises.'

Meanwhile, Hughes of Tru-Cape says the perception of South Africa being a 'cheap' source of supply has to change. 'If the world sees us as a cheap source of supply for fruit then they need to get that out of their heads. World food prices will be a big issue in the coming years, and South Africa must have a strong supply structure in place to ensure prices are regulated fairly.'

Despite the recent unrest, Hortgro's Rabe says that the 'quality of South African fruit has never been better' and with ambitious plans to add another 1,000 hectares of apple plantations in the next 10 years and to increase exports into the UK, which currently represents 24 per cent of the country's overall fruit exports, South Africa's ambition is clear for the world to see. Rabe concludes: 'The best way to improve the social situation in South Africa is to buy more South African produce; we want to improve entrepreneurial opportunities for workers and the industry must continue to grow to enable this change.' —

INNOVATION ALIVE AND WELL IN SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa's Agricultural Research Council (ARC) is leading the way in scientific management of harmful insects such as the Mediterranean fruit fly.

Stiaan Kotze, who is the general manager at a fly research facility based in Stellenbosch, helps to produce 15 million sterile male fruit flies per week in order to lower field populations through a technique he describes as 'birth control for insects', and he is full of praise for the forward-thinking mentality of South Africa's fruit producers.

'Since we've started this facility, there has been a 60 per cent improvement in crop yields over the 40,000 hectares we supply male flies to. South Africa is definitely a country where innovative agricultural ideas will be listened to,' says Kotze.

Meanwhile, Danie Heyns of the South African Plant Improvement Organisation (SAPO Trust), which is jointly funded by several of the country's key grower associations, is responsible for the development of new fruit varieties.

Heyns, who says SAPO has 80-120 cultivars in development at one time, says the country has a 'healthy drive' in finding and developing new varieties, and has backed varieties currently being trialled including the Carmen pear and Red Fox peach to successfully enter the UK market in the coming years. —

CALL FOR TRAINING

With labout costs rising significantly in South Africa, producers' bodies have urged growers to train their workers.