Agriculture

The capacity of the Clanwilliam Dam is set to double.

The wall of the Clanwilliam Dam is to be raised, doubling the capacity of the dam and bringing an additional 5 000ha of land under irrigation.

After a lengthy delay, the decision to go ahead with raising the wall of the Clanwilliam Dam was confirmed in October 2018. The 13-metre addition will cost R2.5-billion and could support high-value crops for export such as citrus and table grapes. The land could also form part of the land reform programme.

Not only is agriculture in the Western Cape central to the earning of foreign currency through exports, but agriculture underpins many downstream manufacturing enterprises and has enormous potential to create jobs.

Nearly 30% of exports come from agriculture, with food and beverages contributing a further 24%. Premier Helen Zille noted in her 2018 State of the Province Address that the key sectors of the province’s non-metro towns (such as retail and manufacturing) have a strong dependence on agriculture and agri-processing.

The Western Cape Provincial Government reached its target of 100 000 new jobs in agri-processing in 2016 but the sector has since been buffeted by bouts of avian flu and a once-in-a-generation drought. City dwellers have learnt about the concept of “resilience” by putting buckets in their showers and restricting personal usage to 50 litres per person per day, but it is the agricultural sector which has had to make the biggest adjustments to climate change.

The Provincial Government introduced a Smart Agri plan to coordinate efforts to tackle the effects of climate change on agriculture. Developed by two provincial departments (Agriculture and Environmental Affairs and Development Planning), the African Climate and Development Initiative of the University of Cape Town and several private-sector participants, Smart Agri has six priorities: • Conservation agriculture: minimal soil disturbance, crop diversity and permanent soil cover. Wheat yields have increased dramatically as a result of this programme. • Restoring degraded landscapes. • Improved catchment area management, including removing alien plants. • Energy efficiency. • Giving priority to climateresistant crops and livestock. • Sharing knowledge.

The sector supports almost 10 000 farms and employs 214 000 people. Farming carried out on the Western Cape’s 13-million hectares of agricultural land comprises approximately 21% of South African commercial agriculture.

Seven of the 10 biggest export earners are either agricultural products or agri-processed goods. These are citrus, wine, apples and pears, grapes, fruit juice and tobacco.

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Interest in the sector from foreign investors has been keen. The Agri-business Investment Unit within investment agency Wesgro has helped to generate investment into the agricultural sector totalling R1.5-billion in the three years to 2017.

New areas of interest for export include the Halaal market. With a global market valued at about $2.3-trillion, a step towards preparing the Western Cape to compete in that market was made in 2017 with a small-scale conference on Halaal exports. This was repeated on a larger scale in 2018. The Western Cape, as part of its Project Khulisa strategy, aims to double overall exports from the region by 2025.

The province’s climatic regions vary from Mediterranean around Cape Town and on the coast (where rainfall can be 2 000mm at places) to the drier regions of the inland Karoo districts where annual rainfall figures can be below 150mm. Just over three-million hectares of the province is cultivated and 270 000ha are under irrigation.

The Breede River Valley is an especially fertile area for fruit. The Western Cape specialises in apples, plums, pears and cherries. Peaches and nectarines can be found in most parts of the province. Raisins are a speciality of the Vredendal area on the West Coast.

The Sandveld region on the West Coast is known as South Africa’s Potato Pantry. Citrusdal unsurprisingly does a strong line in citrus and, with nearby Clanwilliam, is also famous for rooibos and buchu.

Strawberries do well in the George area. The Stellenbosch and Swellendam districts are also good for berries, and several farmers are branching out into raspberries and blueberries. Swellendam produces 90% of the world’s commercially grown youngberries, a crop of about 600 tons per annum.

Wheat is another of the province’s strong sectors: the Western Cape’s 310 000ha planted to wheat represents 64% of South Africa’s crop. Japan is a major destination of the province’s maize production. In canola, the Western Cape is even more dominant, with 99% of the nation’s hectares (StatsSA).

Companies

Zeder Investments is the agricultural arm of investment holding company PSG Group. Zeder controls Capespan, which has a turnover of R7.6-billion across three divisions: farms, logistics and fruit. Zeder is also a 39.6% shareholder in Kaap Agri Ltd. Kaap Agri has more than 200 operating points.

Zeder also owns 27.2% of Pioneer Foods which makes and distributes many big food and drink brands across southern Africa, including Weet-Bix, LiquiFruit, Ceres, Sasko and White Star.

Caledon-based Overberg Agri is an unlisted company with a wide range of investments in several sectors, including mining, pet food and industrial fasteners. SSK (Sentraal Suid Ko-operasie) has outlets in the Overberg and in the Southern Cape as far east as George.

The Klein Karoo group based in Oudtshoorn focusses on ostriches through Klein Karoo International. Separate units deal in fashion products, feathers, leather, skins and meat production. Other companies in the group cover seed sales, auctions and retail.

ONLINE RESOURCES

Fresh Produce Exporters’ Forum: www.fpef.co.za National Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries: www.daff.gov.za SA Grain Information Service: www.sagis.org.za Western Cape Department of Agriculture: www.elsenburg.com

Dry times at Clanwilliam Dam.