8 \ News \ January 2013
www.GatewayToAfrica.com
NEWS AND ANALYSIS:
COSATU’s Cape fruit boycott is madness GTA challenges irresponsible union message by Rachael Kirby Following a disastrous year in 2012, COSATU (Congress of South African Trade Unions) appears to be haplessly stumbling from crisis to crisis, largely of their own making. The organisation has now made outrageous threats to call for an international boycott of exported fruit from South Africa. President of the Cape Chamber of Commerce Michael Bagraim, condemns the proposal as irresponsible, explaining the move would only create space in the market for international competitors that would be impossible to recover. According to Bagraim, alienating customers through implementing a boycott would make regaining their confidence extremely difficult. Customers’
interest in South Africa’s exported produce may have already waned due to persistent strikes and protests in the Western Cape that last year led to the deaths of two farm workers between August and December. 55 to 60 per cent of South Africa’s agricultural exports are produced in the Western Cape and valued at US$1bn a year. Furthermore, explains Bagraim, the significant differences between the agriculture and mining industries should not be overlooked. “If work stops on mines there are huge losses but the gold and the platinum remain in the ground for extraction at a later date. On the farms, however, the fruit rots in the fields and a whole year’s work and investments are lost forever.” Such losses would limit farmers’ ability to invest in that crop the following
Ivory Coast cottons on to success by Rachael Kirby
Things are looking up for the Ivory Coast cotton industry after a decade of political turmoil and economic instability. With a population of 20.2 million, the Ivory Coast was once a model for its religious and ethnic harmony, as well as maintaining a well-balanced economy. Armed rebellion and civil war split the nation in half in 2002, slowing the output of cotton from 400,000 to 120,000 tons per year. 50 per cent of cultivated land in the north is primed for cotton growing, but during the decade of division cotton farmers struggled to access southern ports and roads. This
Image by Antonio Olmedo
year and would be detrimental to the agricultural sector of the Western Cape. Agriculture contributes to around 2 per cent of South African GDP. However, it is estimated 638 000 people are formally employed in the sector, with 8.5 million directly or indirectly dependent upon agriculture. The sector is crucial to job creation, particularly in view of the government’s New Growth Path, a plan to create 5 million new jobs by 2020. combined with decreasing market prices forced many farmers to abandon cotton cultivation in favour of more lucrative alternatives, such as livestock keeping or cashew nut production. Now it is anticipated the nation’s cotton production will rise 47 per cent by 2015 as more farmers return to the cotton fields in a new dawn of political stability, further enticed by attractive market prices. The Ivory Coast government has introduced a fixed-price system to the cotton industry, ensuring the minimum rate is guaranteed to farmers. First-grade cotton is set at 265 francs per kilogram (US$0.53) and 240 francs per kilogram (US$0.48) for second-grade. Furthermore, a state input of over US$14.1m into the industry has brought down the cost of fertilizer and pesticides. Coupled with the fixed-rate system, the government is putting the farmers’ needs first to boost the cotton industry and return it to former levels of profitability.