Agriculture and agro-processing value chain. Fruit Value Chain Programme description Fruit and Wine offers significant economic growth, and development opportunities through increased exports. Consistent growth in the global demand for fresh produce can potentially increase South Africa’s horticultural trade from R54.4 billion to R90 billion by 2030. Government aims to expand the existing Public, Private Partnership initiatives it is having with FruitSA and Wine producers. The purpose of this initiative is to increase the production footprint of Fruit and Wine production in the country. Interventions • Government technical support will be offered to producers including: o Construction of on-farm irrigation dams to expand production by an estimated 50 155 ha; o Assistance to producers with SA-GAP and Global-GAP certification; and, o Development of local market infrastructure i.e. National Fresh Produce Markets including pack houses and cold storage facilities. • Following the Jobs Summit a working committee on road to rail will be established including representatives from the horticultural industry and will investigate the feasibility of revitalising transport lines to link key production areas to export hubs. Supporting projects These projects are outlined below, and the Social Partners encourage the development and roll-out of similar initiatives elsewhere: Westfalia Fruit are entering into arrangements with local communities who have received rights in the Magwa and Tshivase tea plantations, as well as the Morobeng community to establish avocado orchards. The Morceaux project in Ceres is also looking to expand joint operations between a commercial farmer and the Morceaux Boerdery Farmworker Trust by purchasing an additional farm for vegetable production and transferring ownership of farmworker housing to beneficiaries of the trust. The joint venture also seeks to expand its footprint in the value chain by buying additional shares for the farmworker trust in Ceres Fruit Growers who market their fruit as TruCape, thereby increasing the farmworker trust’s footprint and ownership in the value chain. Distell already procures the maximum amount of locally available apple juice concentrate, and in order to meet market demand for downstream products have to import substantial volumes of juice concentrate. A significant opportunity exists to substitute these imports with incremental apple juice concentrate by developing the local apple farming and processing industry. Through this, potential exists for a l...
