"Southern African horticulture needs fine-tuning"

In a recent horticulture value chain analysis and action plan study, Sid Boubekeur, head of the Centre for the Development of Enterprise (CDE) regional office for Southern Africa, said one of the challenges identified in the value chain is lack of good farming practices. Other challenges include covering a wide range of technologies, know-how, management systems, distribution networks and financial record keeping. “This is why 58% of fruits and vegetables are currently imported,” Boubekeur said.

Moreover, he stated that the fluctuation in production volumes and prices increase the risk of sustainability in the value chain.

He also noted that although principally caused by seasonal and weather fluctuations, the variations in production volumes are magnified by the lack of implementation of crop plans and coordination of production between farmers and the distribution networks. “This in turn leads to oversupply of some products and shortages of others, leading to large price variations and wastage,” he said.

Nevertheless, Boubekeur said there are many opportunities to improve the horticulture value chain performance starting with allocation of larger farming areas with modern irrigation techniques, appropriate production technologies and increased qualification of management and staff.

He said this is the condition to attain competitive pricing and negotiating commercial and viable partnerships with larger distributors.

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