The Citrus Growers Association Grower Development Company (CGA-GDC) has allocated and spent R40 million in 2022, in grant funding towards the successful enterprise development of black citrus growers and their farms across South Africa, through its Enterprise Development Grant Fund (EDGF).
The grant funding provides support to growers through the purchase of key production inputs, including fertiliser and chemicals required for farming.
The company said that this is critical following exorbitant price hikes across a number of farming inputs this year, with fertiliser prices increasing just over 56% between 2020 and 2021 due to tight supplies, rising raw material costs, increased demand, logistics constraints and high freight rates.
“These price increases have hit smaller black growers the hardest. By supporting these growers with funding towards these critical inputs, the CGA-GDC also hopes to help mitigate the impact of other industry-wide challenges affecting the sustainability and profitability of developmental farms in the sector, including reduced market access (including the highly stringent and costly phytosanitary regulations applied by the EU), decaying public infrastructure, erratic electricity supply and a devastating decline in real export prices,” the company said in a statement.
Industry experts have forecast that less than 20% of the industry is likely to achieve above break-even returns at the end of 2022. The support offered by the CGA-GDC to smaller developmental growers will remain critical.
Long term, the EDGF will assist developmental growers with the capital required to procure production infrastructure, machinery, equipment and a range of horticultural products.
The grant also aims to assist growers with the costs associated with the accreditation required (legal and professional) towards the commercialisation of their fruit for export to foreign markets.
The funding made available to developmental growers is collected through an export levy paid annually by CGA members to the CGA-GDC. The CGA-GDC then administers and allocates the funding through direct payments to service providers towards the successful enterprise development of black citrus growers and producers in South Africa.
In Limpopo, the EDGF has already assisted in the successful establishment and growth of Manini Holdings, owned by citrus grower Thabo Moripane.
Moripane will be using his grant funding to purchase the inputs he requires to support his planted citrus trees while he works towards the establishment of an additional 70 ha of citrus, including 10 ha of Leanri soft citrus, 10 ha 2PH seedless lemons, 40 ha pr ARC Nadorcott and 10 ha Maayana soft citrus.
The CGA-GDC said it further hopes to continue empowering developmental growers in this manner by allocating R141 million in EDGF funding between 2021 and 2024.
The CGA-GDC said it expects that small developmental citrus growers will continue to be hard-hit by the rising pressure of increasing input costs over the next few years.
BUSINESS REPORT