Skip to content 
2 November 2022 – South African agricultural producers say the ongoing vegetable import restrictions in Botswana and Namibia are creating an unfair playing field. The two countries instituted import restrictions on selected agronomic and horticultural crops to develop their crop industries, despite the fact that the two countries and South Africa are in a customs union, along with Lesotho and Swaziland.
South African agricultural producers are suffering the effects as they are unable to export selected crops, including tomatoes and potatoes, to Namibia and Botswana.
In a written statement, the Namibian Agronomic Board says they currently import almost 100% of farming inputs from South Africa. This has a production cost advantage of almost 25% compared to Namibian farmers due to high input costs in Namibia. According to the Board, import restrictions were put in place to protect their local farmers from cheap imports and to stimulate economic growth and self-sufficiency. Source: Fresh Plaza