Wine farming 'not sustainable'

Cape Town - The wine industry is the agricultural sector's latest victim - where incomes are not keeping pace with rising production costs.

An increasing number of wine farmers are apparently pulling up their vineyards to make way for other crops, because wine farming is no longer sustainable.

This serious situation in which wine farmers are finding themselves became evident at a meeting of the Worcester-Breedekloof forum, which was attended by more than 220 producers from the area, as well as from Robertson and the Little Karoo.

VinPro agricultural economist Gert van Wyk says costs have increased by 17% but producers' incomes have risen only by an average 3%.

He estimates that the minimum income required for delivering the next harvest to cellars needs to be R45 000/ha to be at all profitable, while above-average producers currently receive only R35 000.

He reckons that since 2005 farmers in traditional wine-growing areas like Stellenbosch and Paarl have ripped up more hectares of vines than they have planted.

In 2008 only those in Worcester and Robertson planted more than was removed.

Yvette van der Merwe, chief executive of SA Wine Industry Information and Systems (Sawis), says stock levels are balanced, but there is greater concern about a lack of the product than fear of a wine surplus.

She points out that import parity currently amounts to more than R5/F while South African wine, which is of a better quality, is selling at R3/F.

This is also mention of nursery owners who would rather destroy surplus cuttings than make them available to wine farmers at reduced prices.

- Sake24.com

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