Achieving a 90-day turnaround for the water-use licence application (WULA) process will be a welcome step for the struggling economy, according to SRK Consulting principal scientist Jacky Burke.
Changes will be necessary, though, before the regional and national offices can make a 90-day process a reality, Burke noted.
“It remains vital that the licences issued in this 90-day process will in fact still serve the purpose of protecting our water resources; this means the licence cannot be too generic but should be specific to the activity or operation being authorised, and take into account the specific catchment requirements,” she said. “A shorter processing window is certainly the right approach to support getting our Covid-impacted economy back on its feet.”
She said it would also provide real socio-economic benefit to water users – particularly emerging water users – and surrounding communities.
The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) recently revised the regulations on WULA procedures, following a State of the Nation declaration by President Cyril Ramaphosa in February. He announced that water-use licences should be processed in 90 days, rather than the 300 days prescribed by previous regulations.
“Changes to facilitate implementing this new timeframe could include increased engagement between the applicant and the DWS before submission,” she said. “This would allow a review of completed supporting information and designs before the actual submission, so that the 90-day timeframe is focused on final review and administrative aspects.”
Improving the administrative process of compiling the licence could also involve reducing the cumbersome on-line WULA form process into a standardised water use information template, said Burke.
“Such a template could be used to directly generate a populated licence document, without the need to manually recapture the on-line information into the licence format,” she said. “Additional human resources – combined with IT improvements – would also facilitate the effective implementation of a 90-day process for all water use sectors.”
She noted that an ongoing consultative and supportive process between the DWS, applicants and consultants would also help to fast-track the achievement of a streamlined 90-day application process.
Jacky Burke principal scientist SRK Consulting
About SRK
SRK is an independent, global network of consulting practices in over 45 countries on six continents. Its experienced engineers and scientists work with clients in multi-disciplinary teams to deliver integrated, sustainable technical solutions across a range of sectors – mining, water, environment, infrastructure and energy. For more information, visit www.srk.co.za
“The Covid-19 pandemic has amplified the urgent need to address bottlenecks in smallholder farming communities and cultivate the vast amounts of underutilised land across the country.”
This was the clear message of both Professor Ferdi Meyer, Managing Director of the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP), and Dr John Purchase, Chief Executive Officer of the Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz), in a webinar hosted by Nedbank Business Banking.
‘What the pandemic has made very clear, is that there are two distinct levels of food security – at a national level, which is secure, and at a household level, which is very precarious,’ says Meyer.
Purchase agrees, saying that the situation was fragile even before Covid-19. ‘We must acknowledge that the Zuma administration was disastrous for South Africans: per capita GDP was cut from $8 000 to $5 200, which means that South Africans are roughly 25% poorer in US dollar terms now than before the Zuma years.’
Then came Covid-19 and the lockdown, which Purchase says ‘cut off the legs’ of the informal food supply network. ‘Informal trade, which was a remarkably efficient mechanism, ceased. Physical and financial access became problematic and this has created a humanitarian crisis on the scale of the pandemic,’ he says.
Purchase says that the informal market in South Africa is significant, with 60% of bread, 30% of poultry and 40% of fresh produce moving through the informal trade and distribution sector, including quick-service restaurants.
Meyer adds that the informal food supply sector is also larger than expected, which contributes not only to food supply but also to job creation. ‘In the pork industry, for example, the informal herd in South Africa is huge – about half the value of the stock in the formal sector – and if we work that back to job equivalence, that is about 23 000 jobs in the informal pork supply chain alone.’
Purchase says that a number of initiatives are in place to support this sector, particularly to weather the storm created by the pandemic. The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has ring-fenced R1,2 billion to support around 15 000 small-scale farmers, and Agbiz is working with the office of the Gauteng premier through the Public-Private Growth Initiative to develop food supply chain security in the informal market. The objective is less about food aid, and more about small-business development opportunities.
Even before the pandemic, Agbiz and BFAP were collaborating to drive the Masterplan Initiative for the agriculture sector, in conjunction with national government and other stakeholders. The objective of this masterplan is to ensure that infrastructure, skills, incentives and other resources are directed where they will have the greatest effect, including non-commercial and emerging farmers.
Purchase says that interventions should unlock job creation potential and food security, particularly in the emerging commercial farmers sector. This sector needs support and inclusive growth to contribute to national food security and livelihoods, and to use land productively. With the potential to create 1 300 to 1 500 additional jobs per 1 000 farms by 2030, Purchase says the key challenges faced by this sector include limited access to markets and quality financial services.
‘Due to the nature of our food system and geographic spread, we have the highest concentration of poor households in cities, but the poverty in rural areas is severe too. We have the double challenge of ensuring that the commercial highly competitive value chains supply food at the most affordable price into cities, while empowering smallholders in the informal sectors to make a significant contribution to rural areas and economies,’ says Meyer. ‘And that is where investment needs to focus – whether it is infrastructure, access to credit or insurance.’
Maluta Netshaulu, Senior Manager: Agriculture New Business Development at Nedbank, says that Covid-19 has exposed the vulnerabilities in our food system as well as the importance of the informal sector to mainstream supply chains. ‘It now more than ever is clear that a concerted effort needs to be made to innovate new funding models for the smallholder and emerging farming markets to develop underutilised and unproductive arable land and increase investment in distribution systems in rural areas. This is to ensure and maintain affordable food, create jobs and reduce poverty and inequality. Nedbank has been participating in various industry engagements on blended funding models and partnerships to help attract investment in this segment.’
He adds that Nedbank, as a responsible lender and purpose-led financial institution, not only promotes and facilitates responsible and sustainable production but also encourages responsible consumption by ensuring that waste and loss in the agricultural value and supply chain is reduced.
John Hudson, National Head: Agriculture for Nedbank Business Banking, agrees that a critical component of food security is food waste, adding that the bank’s long-term sustainability partner, World Wildlife Fund South Africa, has been working to address food waste for a number of years. It forms a key element of the strategy to shift the food system onto a more equitable and sustainable trajectory.
‘An excellent example of this system in action is the outstanding work being done by leading national food distribution non-profit organisation FoodForward SA, in conjunction with key partners in the food value chain. FoodForward SA recently announced its strategic partnership with Agri SA and the Citrus Growers Association of South Africa. The partnership will see the collective leverage of more than 28 000 farmers and 1 000 farmer associations to get edible surplus fresh produce to communities suffering because of the Covid-19 pandemic,’ says Hudson.
In his State of the Nation Address on 23 February 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa made a declaration that water use licenses should be finalised within 90 days, with effect from 01 April 2020. Since this declaration, the Department of Water and Sanitation has worked tirelessly to revise Water Use Licensing Regulations in order to finalise the process within the new turnaround time of 90 days as declared by the President.
The Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, Ms Lindiwe Sisulu together with her team responded to this directive as given by the President. The team ensured that the process of license applications is revised in response to the new stipulated time frame.
“The revised time frame for the finalization of the Water Use License Application process will ensure that DWS is an active and responsible participant within the economic and social sectors, with a particular impact on the recovery of the South African economy. The shortened time frame will bring certainty to all applicants and users”, said Minister Sisulu.
According to the previous regulations regarding the procedural requirements for Water Use License Applications and Appeals, 300 days were prescribed to finalise this process. However, the Department of Water and Sanitation has revised these regulations and ensured that the water use license application process is finalized within 90 days.
The business processes of Water Use Licensing has been revised and significant progress has been made. These processes include pre-application Department of Water and Sanitation South Africa DWS_RSA engagement with the applicant, compilation of the required technical reports, and public participation.
The Department assesses the application which can be rejected if it is incomplete, or be accepted if the required information is complete.
When all the information required is made available, the accepted applications are assessed and a decision is made within 82 days. The final step, which lasts for 4 days, comprises post administration of the decision (a letter of rejection of the application or a license is issued) and communication to the applicant.
To fast track the process of Water Use Licensing, the Department has also involved stakeholders to participate. Various stakeholders in the water and economic sectors, including agriculture, forestry, domestic, industry and mining, have been engaged by the Department.
The Department is fully committed to have meaningful engagements with all interested stakeholders to unlock delays and fast-track water use licenses to within 90 days as it was specified by the President”, said Mr Singh.
For more information:
Sputnik Ratau
Tel: +27 82 874 2942 www.dwa.gov.za
Good news for consumers but not for farmers as South Africa’s avocado industry re-routes two million extra cartons of the fruit on to the domestic market as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic on export predictions.
For those who love smashed avocado on toast, or a touch of guacamole on their nachos, now is the time to pop down to the fruit and veg store as more than two million cartons of the fruit destined for export head for the domestic market.
This massive drop in export trade as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic might be good news for domestic consumers but not for farmers, who will have to re-assess their earnings: at least two thirds of the local crop is destined for overseas markets in a normal year.
Earlier this year – when the green “superfood” was out of season – consumers were paying upwards of R50 for two avocados, with prices for “ready to eat” fruit now at about R30 for two, giving an indication of the high demand despite annual harvesting already in full swing and the import excess taken up by domestic buyers.
But consumers could expect further downward price pressure as harvesting hits its peak.
CEO of the South African Subtropical Growers’ Association Derek Donkin said the original export predictions were set at 18 million cartons, but since the onset of the pandemic the industry had re-adjusted its forecast to R16 million cartons for the year.
“The closure of the hospitality sectors, restaurants and hotels has affected our exports as well as sales here in South Africa. While the excess will be taken up in the domestic market, that does, however, put pressures on the price,” Donkin said.
He added that the downward price pressure was affecting the green-skinned varieties, with some retailers selling a 4kg box of avocadoes on special recently for about R60.
The South African avocado harvesting season runs from February to November, with most of the fruit harvested between March and September.
Describing the trajectory of South Africa’s industry as a “long-term growth path”, particularly as it looks to further international trade with Japan, India and the United States, Donkin said due to growing global demand and to position the industry to produce the fruit year round, production was expanding in KwaZulu-Natal and in the Eastern and Western Cape.
Derek Donkin
Currently the United States is the biggest importer of avocados globally, importing about one million tons of avos in 2018.
Reportedly, South Africa’s industry plans to host inspectors from Japan once the lockdown has eased and international travel has returned to normal, with its sights also set on gaining access to the Chinese market in the future.
Donkin said South Africa’s industry had enjoyed good harvests and prices for at least five years, with growth expected to continue into the future as consumers worldwide are drawn to healthier eating habits.
South Africa’s avocado production has grown exponentially with about 2 000ha under orchards in 1970 to 19 000ha today. Year-on-year new plantings are estimated at about 1 500ha a year, with growers having to wait for anything up to two years for young trees from certified nurseries due to the demand, he said.
Prior to the ramping up of nursery production, Donkin said new growers could wait up to six years for young trees.
“It takes up to 18 months to grow an avocado tree from seed. When demand suddenly ramped up about five years ago there weren’t that many nurseries. But new nurseries have opened up and we are now in a good position, although the wait is still about two years.”
While accurate figures were not available of the diversification of sugarcane farmers to crops such as avocados, Donkin said there was growth in membership of the South African Avocado Growers’ Association from farmers in KwaZulu-Natal and in particular in the Ixopo area, where they were exiting the dairy industry in preference for avocado farming.
In 2018, South Africa’s avocado crop was estimated at 170 000 tons, of which about 86 000 tons were exported mainly to Europe and to the UK. The remainder of the crop was sold on to the domestic market, with about 10% processed to oil and purée.
The Hass avocado accounts for 80% of the total area planted, while the Fuerte, Pinkerton, Ryan, Edranol and Reed varieties make up the remaining 20%.
The Hass is harvested in Limpopo Province from February to May and in KwaZulu-Natal, from February to October. The other varieties are harvested mainly between March and September.
History
While archaeologists in Peru found domesticated avocado seeds buried with Incan mummies dating back as far as 750BC, South Africa’s first avocado trees were planted in the 1920s in the Durban area by Harry Ludman with seedlings from the West Indies.
Reportedly the fruit was of a poor quality and “attracted little commercial attention”.
In the 1930s citrus farmers in the northern reaches of the country started replacing their dying citrus trees – due to a greening disease – with avocado trees.
However, it was only in the mid-60s that farmers started getting organised by setting up an Avocado Growers’ Export Coordinating Committee, which changed to the Transvaal Avocado Growers’ Association in 1969. The organisation continued as such until August 1971when the South African Avocado Growers’ Association was formed.
The first research committee was established in 1976.
Diet
While some attribute the avo’s popularity with consumers to the rejuvenated popularity of the Banting or high-fat low carb diet promoted by South Africa’s Professor Tim Noakes, and the increasing research worldwide on the impact of sugar on health, the Central American Indian worshipped the fruit’s ability to increase vitality and general well-being as long ago as 500BC.
The South African Avocado Growers’ Association says it is believed these ancient civilisations not only revered the fruit for its nutritional value but also believed it to be an aphrodisiac, due to its suggestive shape. “The name avocado actually comes from the Aztec word ahuacatl, meaning testicle.”
Regardless, avocados have a unique nutritional profile as they contain lots of fibre and are rich in vitamins and minerals like B-vitamins, vitamin K, potassium, copper, vitamin E and vitamin C. They also contain very little sugar.
As South Africa’s cane farmers buckle under the pressure of the government’s Health Promotion Levy, record low world sugar prices and a flood of imports from Eswatini, SA Canegrowers Vice Chairman Dipuo Ntuli is calling for a longer view, saying scores of vulnerable rural communities and small-town economies in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga face collapse.
“We have to keep the sugar industry sustainable. We have to make sure it remains sustainable because historically and even today, sugarcane farming had and still has a very important legacy. For a rural family, growing sugarcane, even on just 2ha, can make the difference between surviving or not surviving,” Ntuli said.
As input costs have increased, coupled with the growing global anti-sugar lobby and the onset of the worst drought in living memory in 2016, the viability of sugarcane farming has come under pressure. When the South African government imposed its Health Promotion Levy in 2018 and in that same year thousands of tons of cheap imported sugar flooded into the country, the industry was effectively on its knees.
Two years since its introduction, the industry estimates the HPL has cost the sector R1.5 billion, with about 9 000 workers being made redundant.
The recent announcement of the closure of the Darnall sugar mill by the embattled Tongaat Hulett group is a case in point as reports estimate at least 400 people have lost their jobs. At least 200 small-scale growers who supplied their cane to the mill will have to absorb hugely increased transport costs as they send their crop to mills further afield, and neighbouring small towns, dependent on the sugar industry for their economic activity, are likely to feel more than just a pinch.
According to Ntuli, while commercial-scale growers are able to ride the storm to an extent, the hardest hit are those who not only depend on their sugarcane plots for extra income but have ambitions to grow their small-scale operations to commercial scale.
She said the number of small-scale growers had dropped from nearly 50 000 at the turn of the century to below 20 000 today.
Dipuo Ntuli, Vice Chairman SA Canegrowers, works in her sugarcane fields on her farm in the district of uMfolozi. She says she is now committed to supporting small-scale growers, most of whom are women.
“That is my vision for the sugar industry. To help all those small-scale growers to stand on their own two feet. To help them to become commercial farmers through partnerships and mentorships with our existing commercial growers. The sugar industry has a proud history of transformation. It has not paid lip service to this. And you know, a large percentage of the small-scale growers comprises women. Growing sugarcane has promoted women in our communities.”
Ntuli, who says she is a proud member of the African National Congress, serves on the political party’s regional executive committee where she heads up the portfolio committee for social development, and has served as a ward councillor for KwaHlabisa in the uMfolozi district.
She was elected as best farmer in the uMfolozi region in 2003 and in her hometown of Mtubatuba, is well known for her community work, particularly among women.
As a leader in the sugar industry and in her area, Ntuli says it is time for the voices of those in rural communities to be heard by the government.
“We must not destroy what we already have because our economy depends on us to be responsible. We must support agriculture, particularly the sugar industry. Supporting our commercial growers to remain sustainable is also an imperative because they create employment for thousands of people, and they are our partners and our mentors,” she said.
SA Canegrowers Commercial Executive Thomas Funke said while the sugar industry Masterplan had the go-ahead, there was no quick fix to the sector’s plight.
“The reduction in the size of the industry has often been quoted as a potential solution to the current problem. This is an expensive option and yes, we are seeing farmers diversify their crops to other commodities such as macadamias, but the fact is, in the forthcoming season we still have 20 million tons of cane that has to be harvested, processed and sold on to an oversupplied world market at a rock bottom price.”
Funke said in reality the industry was no longer viable but most diversification strategies that involved the planting of alternative crops such as cotton, soya or macadamias, carried the threat of being less labour intensive, which would have a negative impact on employment for farm workers.
“In short, there is no quick fix to this issue. Macadamias are a good alternative crop to sugarcane, particularly on the KwaZulu-Natal coastline and in Mpumalanga, but the cost of developing a hectare is pegged at between R80 000 and R100 000 a hectare.”
He said reducing the size of the industry was financially inhibitive and expressed concern at the increased water supply required by alternative crops, such as cotton or macadamias.
“At least 70% of the sugarcane crop is under dryland,” he said.
With reference to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation address in February where the development of alternative energy seemed to include only wind and solar power, Funke suggested sugarcane farmers be enabled to harvest their own fibre on farm, produce the electricity they need and then feed it into the grid.
“Gasification and anaerobic digestion are technologies that have been investigated and developed. The technology is economically sustainable and viable; all that is required is that a grower be permitted to feed the excess power to the grid. Also, the process of storing power or reverse metering must be allowed and growers should be allowed to use the excess power when and if they need it,” he said.
Ntuli, who was in fact born and schooled in Gauteng, said when she married her late husband Cedric Ntuli, who was better known as “Bra Mike”, she was a city girl who knew nothing about farming.
“I met my husband at church. He was working on the goldfields at the time. Once we were married he decided we should come back to his home in Mtubatuba. That was in 1988. He promised to teach me everything about growing sugarcane, and he did.”
Ntuli said she fell in love with the soil and when she received her first pay cheque from her harvested cane, she was hooked.
“I have worked my way up through the ranks of the sugar industry, from representing small-scale growers in the SA Canegrowers’ regional structures until in 2015, when I was elected to represent our area at the Congress of Growers. In 2016 I was elected to the Board of Directors. In 2018 I was elected vice chair and then re-elected in 2019. I have also completed management courses at Mancosa and at the University of Zululand. I don’t believe you can be a leader without having knowledge,” she said.
Ntuli, who believes the politicisation of agriculture in the country, is a strategy that all of us will live to regret, says she is now pouring her energies into the survival of rural agriculture and in particular, providing support for those – mainly women – who grow sugarcane.
As major airlines across the world, as well as in South Africa, file for business rescue as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns in major tourist and business destinations, South Africa’s sugar industry is left wondering about what might have been. Or is it?
Bio-jet fuel has been named as one of the most promising by-products of sugarcane production and is high on the list of a raft of solutions tabled to rescue the South African sugar industry from collapse.
And, as the world’s aviation industries count the cost of the COVID-19 pandemic and ponder how to re-build their operations, it is certain it will want to fast track its announced conversion to the use of biofuels in a bid to meet emission-reducing targets.
In an international report released in 2019 it was estimated that 2 500 litres of biofuel could be produced from “engineered” sugarcane grown on 0.4ha of land. A Boeing 747 could fly for just more than 10 hours on biofuel from 22ha of land.
Another report titled Understanding the sustainable aviation biofuel potential in sub-Saharan Africa was released by the Worldwide Fund for Nature South Africa in collaboration with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis predicts that Sub-Saharan Africa could contribute anything between 30 and 90% of the world’s aviation biofuels by 2050. Could this be fast tracked?
Fast track
The collapse and shutdown of world travel just might be the opportunity so desperately needed by the country’s crisis-ridden sugar industry as environmental world bodies, activists and NGOs call for greener energy production while we learn to live with a disease for which there remains no cure.
Furthermore, if Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan is indeed serious when he says a new, more streamlined and fit-for-purpose airline might emerge from the ashes of the bankrupt South African Airways, is it possible we could see a regional airline plying regional routes fuelled by the country’s sugarcane crop? Well, why not?
In a report released in March and titled Shared Responsibility, Global Solidarity: Responding to the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19, the United Nations lists three steps it believes are fundamental to economic survival both during the pandemic and once a vaccine has hopefully been produced.
The first step, the report says, is to “mount the most robust and cooperative health response the world has ever seen”; the second, “to do everything possible to cushion the knock-on effects on millions of people’s lives, their livelihoods and the real economy”, and third, “to learn from the crisis and build back better. Had we been further advanced in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, we could better face this challenge – with stronger health systems, fewer people living in extreme poverty, less gender inequality, a healthier natural environment and more resilient societies”.
In short, and as we hear the ever-increasing call for a greener and more socio-equal exit from this pandemic, so too shall the production of biofuels and green energies become an imperative for countries wanting to participate in the global economy.
Vital role
More importantly, and of particular interest to South Africa’s cane growers, the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) – widely acknowledged as the most credible international standard for biomaterial sustainability – believes our sugar industry could play a vital role in supporting the aviation industry to achieve its target of carbon neutral growth from 2020 and a 50% reduction on 2005 emissions levels by 2050.
Arianna Baldo, who leads RSB Business Development Activities in Africa and the Middle East, said making biofuel with sugarcane would not affect food security in South Africa as it would not involve the clearing of additional land, but rather the deviation of existing production and over-supply.
“It is however crucial for production to comply with a sustainability standard in order to ensure social and environmental stewardship,” Baldo said.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, greenhouse gas emissions from global aviation had more than doubled over the past 20 years, accounting for the largest increase in emissions from transport. The industry accounted for 2% of all carbon dioxide emissions for 2016 – releasing 915 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere in 2019, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Forecasts expected aviation to grow at least 5% every year towards 2030, with the demand for aviation fuel growing by approximately 1.5% to 3% a year.
However, with the global aircraft fleet all but grounded and airports mainly hollow, empty halls now, those numbers will probably no longer apply in the short term.
To support fuel producers and users to demonstrate a significant commitment to environmental and social sustainability, RSB recently announced it had submitted its application for recognition under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) as a step towards assisting the industry as it “looks towards a green recovery from the global COVID-19 crisis”.
The scheme refers to the regulations as agreed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation which comes into effect in 2021 to reduce aviation greenhouse gas emissions.
Baldo said while there had been calls for airline bailouts to be linked to carbon reduction targets, these had yet to be approved.
“We have seen some environmental leadership in countries such as France, where the government has demanded that Air France must cut all routes that can be travelled by train before the airline can benefit from state funding. It is clear that this is an opportunity for public and private investors to shape the low carbon future of the aviation sector, such as demanding for Sustainable Aviation Fuel development that is certified by a reputable certification such as RSB,” she said.
