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It is currently the peak season for citrus harvesting and exporters and farmers in the Hankey area have suffered millions of rand in losses due to the impact unrest in the area since last week. Hankey is a small town on the confluence of the Klein and Gamtoos rivers in the Eastern Cape.
The main road to get citrus out of the valley was closed for four days last week and this created a backlog, not only at packhouses, but also in terms of harvesting, according to Grewar Oosthuizen, a member of the management team of the local farmers' association Agri Gamtoos.
News24 reports that about 400 seasonal workers were forcefully evicted from their homes in Hankey by local residents. This followed violent clashes at an informal settlement in the town last week.
According to police, the clashes between local residents and migrant workers, mostly from Lesotho, was sparked by the murders of two people from Centerton, another township in Hankey.
Due to the backlog created by the road closure and employees being prevented from coming to work, packhouses could not operate at full capacity and farmers had to slow down or even suspend harvesting. This creates a risk that fruit not harvested in time could end up of a lower quality. Not having been able to reach the port over the period when the road was closed, also created potential lost opportunities for the citrus exports in overseas markets if it cannot reach there in time.
"I would not describe the citrus impact as a disaster, but there has certainly been a financial impact - maybe even a few million rand in losses and extra costs. Of course employees also lost their income over those days when they could not get to work. Furthermore, other businesses in the area - retail and tourism - also suffered," says Oosthuizen.
Citrus exports from the Gamtoos Valley go to markets all over the world, including the UK, EU, Far East, Middle East and Canada. It is mostly exported via the Gqeberha and Koega ports, but depending on which market it is destined for, it is also exported via Cape Town and Durban.
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