Plans to revive SA's groundnut industry

Due to drought and a lack of new cultivars, the country’s groundnut industry is in a precarious position. North West producer Lourens de Kock and Adri Botha, chairperson of the South African Groundnut Forum, spoke to Annelie Coleman about what needs to be done to turn the tide.

- Annelie Coleman

In South Africa, groundnuts are produced mainly for local consumption as peanuts and for the manufacturing of peanut butter, with some volume allocated towards niche export markets. The value of the industry is estimated to be around R2,5 billion.

Production of the crop, however, is at a crossroads, according to producer Lourens de Kock from Setlagole in North West. Between 8 000ha and 10 000ha of irrigated groundnut production were in the recent past lost to other longterm crops such as pecan nuts and olives, as well as seasonal crops, including lucerne and cotton. The number of hectares earmarked for dryland production has also decreased markedly, mainly due to severe, multi-year drought or delayed rainfall in the summer grain-producing regions.

AN INDUSTRY IN DECLINE

South African farmers planted nearly 100 000ha of groundnuts at the turn of the century, but by 2010 this had decreased to about 57 000ha, according to historical data from the national Crop Estimates Committee (CEC). The latest CEC approximation for the 2020 harvest was 52 140t, a 16,54% decrease, or 10 330t fewer than the previous forecast for 2020 of 62 470t.

“Somewhat ironically, this latest adjustment was reportedly, to some extent, linked to losses due to the Sclerotinia disease, brought on by the wetter conditions experienced during the latter part of the growing season,” says Adri Botha, chairperson of the South African Groundnut Forum.