Farmer's Weekly (South Africa)
Government still mum on high-cube containers
Fruit destined for the export market continues to be transported illegally in South Africa as a result of the Department of Transport’s inability to review and publish new regulations.
Regulation 224 (b) of the National Road Traffic Act No. 93 of 1996 prohibits the transporting of high-cube shipping containers due to the combined height of the containers and the trucks moving them. These containers are an international norm and are particularly important for the agribusiness sector, as refrigerated containers used for transporting agricultural products fall within this category.
Mitchell Brooke, logistics development manager at the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa, said that government had placed a moratorium on the regulation of these containers until an alternative format could be implemented. While the moratorium had repeatedly been extended with each deadline, last year’s June deadline had passed without the moratorium being extended.
“Growers and transport companies are exposing themselves to enormous risk by transporting goods in these containers. If there were to be any serious accidents or issues on the roads, liability will become a big problem, considering that the use of high-cube [containers] on the roads is effectively illegal. However, there’s no alternative,” Brooke said.
Business Unity South Africa and Agbiz have implored Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula to urgently review the regulations.
Theo Boshoff, CEO of Agbiz, said that while the moratoriums had been a practical necessity, they were time-bound and caused unnecessary uncertainty.
He added that in Agbiz’s view, the actual risks posed to road infrastructure by the transporting of high-cube containers must be based on evidence. This had to be weighed up against the potential costs to agribusinesses if the regulations required alterations to the height of load bays at packhouses and distribution centres.
“In line with President [Cyril Ramaphosa’s] call to remove obstacles to doing business in South Africa, an evidence-based review of the regulations is urgently needed,” he said.
Brooke said that while there were instances where high loads could pose a risk to infrastructure due to low bridges and strong winds that caused containers to tip over, a study needed to be conducted to identify risks and pose solutions.
He added that a solution was only likely to be found once the industry had reached ‘burning platform’ stage.
“When trucks are being stopped on the roads, companies refuse to transport high cubes, [backlogs] occur at ports, and the industry comes to a standstill, that’s when I foresee government finally doing something about this.”
‘ONLY WHEN THE INDUSTRY COMES TO A STANDSTILL WILL GOVERNMENT ATTEND TO THIS’
Wine estate Durbanville Hills’ The Tangram White Blend 2018 has been named one of the world’s 12 topscoring wines at the Global Sauvignon Blanc Masters 2021 competition, hosted by The Drinks Business, an international businessto-business magazine.
Two-hundred Sauvignon Blanc wines from around the globe were subjected to a blind tasting, with Durbanville Hills’ wine chosen, along with
11 other wines produced in France, Chile, New Zealand and the US.
The lime-green wine is a blend of 76% Sauvignon Blanc and 24% Sémillon, matured for 10 months in French oak, and is made for long-term cellaring, according to a Durbanville Hills statement.
Martin Moore, the winery’s cellar master, said it took a team effort to produce a winning wine. “Sauvignon Blanc is a great example of where we make a Bordeauxstyle classic [The Tangram] in an intense, cool climate (the Cape mist), and mature it on the lees for at least nine months. We then sell it when it’s at least 18 months old.”
He added that the choice of grapes for different styles was based on a combination of vineyard experience and wine history. Grape selection was done in the vineyards, followed by a variation of techniques in the cellar and meticulous attention to detail in the winemaking, he said.
“The importance of tasting the grapes in the vineyards, combined with the end goal [of making the wine], is instrumental in deciding on when to harvest.” Moore said Durbanville Hills had not escaped the fallout of liquor sales bans during the COVID-19-related lockdowns.
“Lost sales are lost sales, not to be caught up with. We have, however, recovered extremely well and sales are back on track, thanks to our loyal supporters.”
The High Court in Gab orone has rejected the Botswana government’s attempt to stop Fresh Standard from growing hemp and cannabis in the country.
In 2018, the government, through the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security, gave the Botswanabased company exemption and a licence to grow hemp and cannabis for industrial and medicinal purposes on a farm near Kanngwe in the southern part of that country.
A year later, after the company had developed the farm and planted hemp and cannabis, the ministry withdrew the exemption and the licence.
Gaborone High Court Judge Christopher Gabanagae ruled in January that the withdrawal of the exemption and licence was unlawful as it had been done without the minister’s [Patrick Ralotsia’s] authority.
“The withdrawal was made by the permanent secretary, who has no powers to do so without the minister’s authority.
“According to the Plant Protection Act, the minister is the only government executive with the authority and power to withdraw the exemption and licence, and he has confirmed that he never withdrew them,” Gabanagae said.
He indicated that Ralotsia, who had been dismissed from his position after giving the company the exemption and licence, had not contravened the Act.
“The minister exercised his powers under provision of Section 28 of the Act and permitted the company to grow, cultivate and process hemp. I find that the minister in this case acted within the requirements of the law.”
Opposition parties in Botswana were pushing for the amendment of legislation to allow farmers to grow hemp and cannabis without seeking exemption and licences from the agriculture minister.
The leader of the opposition parties in the country, Dumelang Saleshando, said many countries had started to change their laws to allow the growing of hemp and cannabis, while the Botswanan government leadership was “tricking farmers, saying hemp is marijuana”.
“[…] hemp is a plant that can produce over 100 different household and industrial products, such as clothes, cosmetics, animal feeds and biofuel”, Saleshando added.
Botswana-based farmer Kesitegile Gobotswang said producers in that country were ready to start hemp and cannabis farming, but couldn’t do so as the government was hesitant to change its laws and allow farmers to grow these plants.
According to Gobotswang, researchers at the Brightfield Group had indicated that a farmer could earn US$40 000/ha (about R613 000/ha) from industrial hemp. This was equivalent to P450 000.
‘BOTSWANA GOVERNMENT LEADERSHIP IS TRICKING FARMERS, SAYING HEMP IS MARIJUANA’
Plans to build a new C$360 million (about
R4,4 billion) canola crushing plant in Saskatchewan, Canada, have been met with mixed reaction, with some analysts expressing doubts about whether there is enough of the crop to go around.
Last year, canola achieved record-high prices in Canada, the world’s top producer of the crop, due to strong demand for vegetable oil after severe drought reduced crop volumes, according to a report by Reuters.
Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL), in partnership with AGT Food and Ingredients, recently announced plans to build a plant to crush 1,1 million tons of canola annually to supply oil for FCL’s renewable diesel facility.
Richardson International, Ceres Global Ag Corp, Cargill Inc and Viterra Inc announced similar plans last year on the back of strong demand for canola oil in food products and for the production of low-emitting fuels.
The combined capacity of these plants would increase Canada’s canola crushing capacity by
6,8 million tons, or 62%.
However, Marlene Boersch, managing partner of Mercantile Consulting Venture, told Reuters that this “was a tall order to fill for Canadian farmers, whose canola production peaked in 2017”. Output concerns also went beyond the drought in 2021, with canola plantings reaching a peak in 2017, and yields remaining flat from 2017 to 2020 before the drought, she added.
Patrick Bergermann, associate vice-president for energy at FCL, said, however, that he expected the company’s plant to purchase some canola that would otherwise be exported, with exports usually accounting for about half of the annual crop.
The increased sophistication of cybercriminals is becoming very costly for South African agribusinesses, according to Francois Strydom, chairperson of Agbiz.
“Cybercrime has been part of the agribusiness risk matrix for several years,” Strydom told Farmer’s Weekly.
“A lot of time and money are spent on mitigation, but unfortunately the sophistication of the attacks is constantly increasing.” This was in line with the experience of international businesses, according to the 11th international Allianz Risk Barometer.
“The threat of ransomware attacks, data breaches, or major IT outages worries companies even more than business and supply chain disruption, natural disasters or the COVID-19 pandemic, all of which have heavily affected firms in the past year,” the global financial services company said in a statement.
Strydom added that the issue of cyberattacks was a concern, as agribusinesses were becoming increasingly dependent on electronic systems.
“Role players within value chains are also highly interdependent,” Strydom said. “The risks are also becoming country-specific. Agbiz cannot see that this will change in the near future, and it’s crucial to realise that the risk will make a country more or less competitive on the international playing field.”
This was the second time that cyber incidents had topped the Allianz Risk Barometer.
The latest annual survey incorporated the views of 2 650 experts from 89 countries and territories, including CEOs, risk managers, brokers and insurance experts. Globally, cyber risks were the biggest threat, according to 44% of respondents, followed by business interruption (42%) and natural catastrophies (25%). Climate change climbed to its highest-ever ranking of sixth, rising from ninth place, while pandemic outbreaks had dropped to fourth place on the latest barometer.
Thusang Mahlangu, Allianz Global Corporate and Speciality’s CEO in South Africa, said political risks, violence and critical infrastructure blackouts were rising concerns for local businesses.
“Political risks and violence moved from sixth to fourth following major losses from physical damage, business interruption, loss of revenue, looting, and vandalism caused by civil commotion, protests and riots in 2021.”
He added that critical infrastructure blackouts had entered the top three risks from sixth place, showing that companies were concerned about the impact of blackouts on their businesses and the economy.
“Preparation is key, particularly for exposed sectors such as retail,” Mahlangu said, adding that defined and preferably tested procedures needed to be put in place.