For some time now, we have been observing a silent but growing discontent in Southern Africa over South Africa’s agricultural dominance across the region. We have seen countries such as Namibia and Botswana impose temporary bans on the import of South Africa’s agricultural products, most recently targeting fruits and vegetables.

The rationale these countries use for their policy actions is that they need to grow their domestic farming activities. Blocking South Africa to create space for their industries is the approach they deem necessary.

As these countries are all part of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the frequent bans of agricultural products from South Africa undermine the spirit of these agreements.

The developmental ambition to improve domestic agricultural production is understandable and should be supported by all countries in the region, as it ultimately adds to regional agricultural and economic prosperity. Still, pursuing this policy objective in a way that undermines regional economic integration is risky and introduces uncertainty in regional agricultural trade.

By mid-July 2026, two countries in the AfCFTA region were still publicly pushing the approach of restricting agricultural products from South Africa. First, Bank of Botswana Governor Lesego Moseki called on his country’s leadership to accelerate efforts to reduce reliance on food imports, among other consumer goods.

While we understand the arguments behind Moseki’s call, we believe the best approach to accelerating agricultural development is to lean on farm technologies that South African agribusinesses can offer.

Replicated

The Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa (CGA) offers a good example of how this can be done. The CGA shares the cultivars and best practices with the region to accelerate production across Southern Africa. This can be replicated for various farming inputs to boost Botswana’s agricultural production.

What we ought to avoid is what Botswana has been following: regular restrictions of vegetable and fruit imports from South Africa. Any policy to increase domestic reliance on food production needs to be carefully crafted to avoid disrupting regional food supplies and possibly triggering avoidable food inflation in Botswana.

Mozambique’s Minister of Agriculture, Roberto Albino, also recently voiced an intention to pursue import substitution and reduce the country’s reliance on certain food imports from South Africa. As in Botswana, such efforts ought to be supported. We all want shared prosperity in Southern Africa. There are lessons and technologies that Mozambique can learn from South African agribusinesses to boost its agricultural production.

And an improvement in agricultural production in Mozambique would help boost its economy. Agriculture is around 20-25% of Mozambique’s GDP, and its growth would have a material positive impact on the country. But the approach to these agricultural expansion efforts in our region should be one that doesn’t encourage irregular, protectionist trade practices.

The borders must remain open for food trade, while the various domestic governments, together with farmers and agribusinesses, work to improve their production. South Africa’s agriculture must not be viewed as a threat, but as a key collaborator and provider of essential inputs.

New Export Markets

Beyond these regional trade frictions, the message is clear for South Africa: the Southern African region can no longer be the main absorber of agricultural exports. South Africa must make meaningful progress in the search for new export markets and deepen trade with countries in Asia and the Middle East, among other regions.

What we are observing in the Southern Africa region may be a start of a more persistent push by the various countries to limit the exposure to food imports from South Africa. The issue started with Namibia and Botswana.

Mozambique has now joined these countries in sharing protectionist sentiment against South African agricultural imports. As South Africa looks further afield to deepen agricultural exports, there also need to be ongoing consultations with the region to address lingering trade frictions that undermine the spirit of the AfCFTA.

Wandile Sihlobo is the presidential envoy on agriculture and land. He is also the chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa, and a senior research fellow in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Stellenbosch University.