The PPECB has continued to deliver on its mandate of providing quality certification and cold chain management services for producers and exporters of perishable food products. This is thanks to the management and employees of the PPECB who have continued to work diligently with enthusiasm and professionalism in rendering an outstanding service to the export industry in South Africa.

Regardless of the current turmoil in the world with shipping rates that have skyrocketed, inflation rates that have soared worldwide (in the United States of America (USA) reaching levels last seen in the early eighties), the war in Ukraine, and the highest levels of loadshedding yet in South Africa, the PPECB has steadfastly stuck to its tasks as South Africa’s fruit exports continue to grow. The one major warning light on the horizon remains the state of the ports in South Africa and the inefficiency of Transnet. However, there are moves afoot to address these concerns.

South Africa’s diverse weather and climatic conditions across nine provinces enable the country to cultivate and produce a variety of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and nuts for domestic and international markets. The South African citrus industry continues to battle several challenges. Apart from those mentioned above, the new sanitary and phytosanitary regulations imposed by the European Union (EU) to control the spread of citrus black spot (CBS) and false codling moth (FCM) can have huge implications for the industry, according to a report published by the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) in December 2022. (https://www.namc.co.za/ wp-content/uploads/2023/02/SA-Fruit-Flow-Report-Issue-48-December-2022_Final.pdf).

Our Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Operations Officer (COO) have visited many of the PPECB’s offices countrywide where the morale of employees and their energy levels are good. Continuous learning remains a priority within the PPECB, and just over 4 800 courses have been completed by PPECB employees during the year under review. These courses are both of a technical and non-technical nature and are focused on leadership development and the skills required in a modern workplace. A number of team building and cohesion sessions were held around the country to improve communication and collaboration amongst employees.

Transformation remains a priority at the PPECB; to this end 721 smallholder farmers have been trained; workshops were held in Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga; and 105 smallholder farmers have been certified as export-ready.

Our website continues to attract much traffic, with the careers, tenders and documents pages being the most visited. During August, the PPECB hosted a successful stakeholder event with 75 of the PPECB’s clients attending the function. The PPECB’s Charity Golf Day was a sellout and was the usual roaring success.

The TITAN 2.0® project continues to gain momentum, achieving an average usage across all commodities of 89.26%. The total volume inspected on TITAN 2.0® for 2022/2023 is reported at just over 315 million cartons. Regarding collaboration with the industry, the PPECB holds monthly meetings with vendors, bilateral meetings with the electronic certificate (ECert) team, and conducts regular client visits to assist with migration to the new platform.

Measures have been put in place to improve the uptake of electronic addendums and electronic certificates. A similar exercise will commence with the re-inspection feature. One of the focuses now is to integrate TITAN 2.0® with the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system for financial purposes. There are, however, some minor products like litchis, mangoes, nuts etc., that are not yet catered for on the TITAN 2.0® platform and will be included in the future roadmap of the application.

Regular reviews are made of all vendors to whom the PPECB has outsourced services. All vendors are currently performing in line with their service level agreements. The PPECB has released Intellex, a system which provides online access to up-to-date export and inspection data for the South African perishables export industry. For a limited time, this service will provide free access to the PPECB’s wealth of data to support the export industry in making data-driven, insight-led decisions.

The recruitment of skilled ICT personnel remains a challenge, especially in the areas of application development, enterprise architecture and cybersecurity. The PPECB is continuously on the lookout for these professionals and is upskilling within the organisation as far as possible.

The PPECB has assisted the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) on audits conducted by EU officials on compliance with the CBS and FCM risk management systems (RMS). The operational teams within the PPECB were well prepared for the audits and had conducted extensive internal audits on both inspection and cold chain processes.

Avocado volumes inspected were down on budget due to hail damage in parts of Limpopo. Pome fruit export volumes were detrimentally affected by market demand and market access. The PPECB is further assisting stakeholders with the training of container depot employees to ensure alignment during inspection. Grain products (mainly soya beans and maize) continue to show good growth. Tree nut crops (mainly pecans and macadamias) also showed good growth during the period under review.

The PPECB, together with the DALRRD, is involved in several market access projects, specifically with China, Japan, Vietnam and India. Good progress is being made in this regard and a number of these markets could soon open to various export crops.

I am proud to announce that the PPECB has yet again achieved an unqualified audit on the annual financial statements for the period ended 31 March 2023. The finances of the PPECB remain stable, with total assets under management of R273.6 million (2022 – R271.9 million). During the year under review, the PPECB achieved a surplus of R12.5 million (2022 – R35.4 million). These impressive results have been achieved due to higher export volumes and by keeping costs under control. Maize and citrus inspections remain the largest income drivers at the PPECB.

To the Board members leaving with me, thank you for your dedication, guidance, and support over the years. To the members staying behind and the new Board members, I wish you well in your deliberations and may you continue to take the organisation from strength to strength. To the management and employees of the PPECB, keep up the good work and may your diligence and perseverance keep shining through.

Thank you also to the Honourable Minister Thokozile Didiza, the Portfolio Committee and the team at the DALRRD for their ongoing support and assistance. Lastly, thank you to all the clients of the PPECB. The PPECB remains in your service and will continue to strive to bring value to all your organisations.