Boost for ailing chicory industry
10 emerging farmers to supply Nestlé
THE Eastern Cape’s ailing chicory industry was thrown a financial lifeline in Alexandria yesterday when the government and Nestlé South Africa signed a memorandum of understanding to grow local production.
Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies yesterday said talks with Nestlé to try and save the South African chicory industry began two years ago after cheap imports from India began threatening the local production sector.
He said production at the Chicory SA plant in Alexandria had dropped 75% in recent years, impacting on local jobs.
According to the five-year MoU, the present 7 500-ton chicory harvest would be increased to 8 700 tons, creating 870 extra jobs. He said the plan was to make chicory farming more productive and the pricing more competitive to create more jobs.
Emerging farmers were being mentored to boost production of the roasted chicory used in Nestlé’s popular Ricoffy brand.
DTI chief director of agro-processing Unati Speirs said higher local prices compared to cheaper imports from India three years ago had prompted the talks.
She said the industry had been “in distress” in recent years, with turnover shrinking from R150-million to R45-million.
The signing was attended by various provincial and local leaders and Nestlé SA corporate affairs director Ravi Pillay.
Alexandria has been the only place in Africa where chicory has grown successfully, but Pillay said pilot tests since 2008 near their Ricoffy factory in Estcourt were now yielding impressive results.
“The success of the project would be measured by the gradual reduction of dependence on Asia – where the company [Nestlé] procures about 80% of its chicory requirement. The remaining 20% is procured from Chicory South Africa based in Alexandria,” Pillay said.
He said the purpose of the agreement was to identify areas of mutual collaboration and co-operation including encouraging emerging farmers to get into the chicory industry.
Eastern Cape rural development and agrarian reform MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane said the department had been getting previously disadvantaged communities into chicory farming by assisting them with expertise, equipment and fertilisers.
“The relationship between these black farmers and Nestlé SA is strategic in that it provides them with support to meet the needs of Nestlé SA as a market and broadens their horizons in terms of demand for their product in the market.”
He said a long-term aim was to ensure that money around chicory production circulated within the province and packing equipment, and distribution resources were key to the full production chain remaining local.
Ndlambe mayor Sipho Tandani said the MoU was another cog in redeveloping agriculture within the area.
According to Tandani, pockets of land were being leased to 10 emerging farmers in the area to grow the chicory that will be supplied to the local factory. —