outh African grape shipments were significantly behind last year’s export volumes at the end of week two, while stonefruit producers report that their season is 10 to 14 days later then last year.

A late season, rain in the Orange River and the strikes and violence in the Cape region are combining to make this a very difficult export season. Shipments to the UK and northern Europe were 4.5 million cartons down on last year at the end of week two, while the Far East has received only 60 per cent of the volume so far this season compared with the corresponding period last year. Shipments to Russia are also down, but the Middle East received double the volume compared with last year.

Rain hampered the harvesting in the Orange River, and with the end of the packing season in sight the regions were nearly a million cartons down on last season.

While the late season and the rain in some areas will be of concern, the unrest and violence on or near fruit farms in the Western Cape is of much greater concern. Initiated in the Hex River Valley in November last year, the strike and the associated violence have spread across the region.

This undoubtedly presents the greatest crisis for the sustainability of the industry since Nelson Mandela was released from prison and the country became a democracy in 1994. Organised under the guise of a strike over minimum wages, it has now become clear that much bigger issues are at stake.

A doubling of the minimum wage payable still remains the major demand for a resolution to be achieved, but the general benefits and social position of seasonal workers who live in these areas is also on the table.

More recently the position taken by the strike leaders included land issues, which raises a totally different scenario as to what have been experienced in the Cape region. Land claims have been mainly contained to the northern regions of South Africa and it has never been a major issue in the Cape. It will therefore be of major concern for fruit growers and those who may consider investing in the industry in these regions.

For the past two weeks growers have gathered around their television sets every night to watch the scenes of violence reported on by local and international news agencies.

Due to the unrest harvesting has been delayed in a number of regions, with growers now reporting crop losses because they cannot get the fruit packed in time. The problem may become bigger because the stonefruit, table grape and top-fruit sectors are now reaching their peak harvest.

While the leading union, Cosatu, last week suspended the strike for a week to allow further consultation, in the different regions this has had little effect on militants intimidating workers who want to return to work.

The most damaging blow as a result of the violence was the destruction of one of the best stonefruit and citrus packhouses in the Cape, near Paarl. The packhouse of Sandrivier, belonging to well-known South African businessman Jan le Roux, was totally destroyed in a fire started by militants. As a result 500 people lost their jobs and the farm now has to revert to crisis management and packing its fruit elsewhere to try to limit further losses.

Meanwhile well-known exporter Riaan van Wyk, managing director of Colors Fruit, has warned of catastrophic consequences if the strike continues for another fortnight.

“So far we were able to manage the situation, but with peak volumes coming into harvesting it will be a bigger problem.

“If we export lower volumes it will have a devastating effect on the industry and everyone participating in the value chain from carton manufacturers to marketing organisations.”

Meanwhile, Hex River grape growers who have been accused of underpaying their workers have hit back by publishing information of their share of the prices consumers pay for their grapes in British supermarkets. They claim that of every £4.50 or R63 South African consumers pay for a kilogramme of green seedless grapes in UK supermarkets, only 18 per cent, or R11.37, is returned to the farm. Of this 52 per cent is already-paid-for labour, with only R5.46 remaining for input cost and if anything is left, for the grower himself as profit.

These figures are based on a research report by a UK team of researchers and co-authored by University of Cape Town researcher Magareet Visser. The biggest share, namely 42 per cent, ends up in the pocket of retailers, while a whopping 32 per cent is taken up by distribution.

In general everyone in the South African fruit industry will acknowledge that the events of the past three months have dramatically altered the landscape in which the South African fresh produce industry operates.

Johan van Niekerk, chair of the South African Table Grape Industry, has called for a National Fruit Plan and a partnership with the South African government and all other players to resolve the situation and set up a new future in which sustainability in the industry can be achieved. He claims that the other fruit sectors support the idea.

In quoting from a paper by the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP), the CGA’s Justin Chadwick says the research reveals a very worrying dilemma. “Their research has found that farmers cannot afford to pay higher wages. In essence the bottom third of growers in a particular fruit sector in South Africa are already making losses and an increased wage bill will mean more farmers would join these ranks. However, the research also found that workers cannot survive on the minimum wage. The cost of living has increased dramatically in the recent past, and the most vulnerable have now reached the tipping point.”

Fruit growers will hope that sanity will return soon and that the South African fruit industry, which celebrated 120 years in exporting last year, will be able to continue its important role in the South African economy. —

A doubling of the minimum wage payable still remains the major demand for a resolution to be achieved, but general benefits are also on the table

PUBLIC FOCUS ON FRUITLast week public hearings were held across the Western Cape in a bid to review wages and bring an end to the unrest.