HORTGRO concerned about possible impact of COVID-19

The Deciduous Fruit Industry body, HORTGRO, says it is concerned about the possible impact of the coronavirus on the sector.

The Western Cape is the largest producer of pears, apples and stone fruit, and exports 45% of its crop. However, the global market is currently in turmoil due to the virus.

Agriculture remains a key economic driver in the Western Cape, which is the largest producer of these fruits.

A difficult season is expected. Nationally, the deciduous fruit industry employs over 60 000 people and spans more than 54 000 hectares.

South Africa produces some of the best apples, pears and stone fruits such as peaches in the world. HORTGRO Chief Executive Officer Jacques du Preez says the impact of the coronavirus has created concern globally.

For South African producers of apples and pears, there is great uncertainty in the current harvest season.

“We came out of a three-year drought now, so climate change has a big impact on our industry, the exchange rate, the oil price plummeting now has a big impact on Africa’s buying power, so there’s a lot of uncertainty around at the moment which we hope will be resolved sooner rather than later.”

In the video below HORTGRO Chief Executive Officer Jacques du Preez says the possible impact is adding to all the existing problems the sector is facing: 

A government delegation was meant to travel to China this month to sign a protocol for the export of pears. However,  COVID-19 has thrown a spanner in the works.

“We’ve been negotiating and working on this protocol for 15 years now, so it was a big disappointment to hear that it won’t be signed this year, but we are still hopeful that our government, they are on standby and ready to go, so as soon as its deemed safe, hopefully, we can conclude that long process.”

South Africa competes with other Southern Hemisphere countries such as Chile and New Zealand in the industry. If these countries cannot deliver to their traditional markets, they could reroute their produce to South Africa’s export markets, impacting on the supply and demand chain of the local produce.

The graphic below gives pointers on how to identify fake news relating to coronavirus: 

How to spot fake news1 by SABC Digital News