Botswana's lifting of restrictions on SA vegetables praised as a positive step to intra-Africa trade
The lifting of import restrictions on vegetables from South Africa by Botswana has been labelled as a positive step towards intra-Africa trade.
Packed vegetables, supermarket. Image: Fikri Rasyid on Unsplash
JOHANNESBURG - The lifting of import restrictions on vegetables from South Africa by Botswana has been labelled as a positive step towards intra-Africa trade.
The newly-elected government of Botswana said that the process to lift the ban would be separated in two phases.
The first phase includes the immediate lifting of import restrictions on seven vegetables and the second phase will take effect in April next year, with the restrictions on seven more vegetables being lifted.
The restrictions came after Bostwana looked to grow its domestic agricultural production. This impacted both countries negatively as South African trading took a hit and Botswana unable to supply affordable fresh produce to it's consumers.
The South African Customs Union (SACU) has encouraged African countries to promote intra-Africa trade.
Thabile Nkunjana, senior economist for trade research: "So, this is such an important step for both countries, as much as this was something that was negative because based on the fact that initially Botswana stated that they wanted to stimulate their local production. Farmers produce on a basis of market availability and Botswana has always been a market for them. This is something that we are advocating for, not only for the two countries but also generally for the SACU block, even going as far as Africa."