“A huge loss” and “a travesty” is how insiders have described the demise of Alexandria’s single biggest employer, chicory farming and processing.
Brought to its knees by cheap imports and financial difficulties, the 130-year-old local industry could see an estimated 1,000 people in work-scarce Alexandria lose their jobs as agri-processor Chicory SA looks set to close its doors at the end of this month.
Chicory is an important ingredient in instant coffee and health drinks.
At the industry’s peak, SA produced 18,000 to 20,000 tons of chicory a year, according to farming handbook Agribook. Chicory SA in Alexandria bought harvested chicory root from farmers, dried, roasted and sold it to big-brand companies.
Chicory SA’s operations incorporated the production, marketing and distribution of dried chicory, roasted chicory, chicory powder and Woody Cape Chicory products for consumer markets.
The bulk of chicory was produced in Alexandria, where the first chicory for commercial use was introduced to the area in 1895 and the chicory industry became a crucial driver of the local economy.
One insider estimates that the chicory industry’s various components – from growing to logistics, processing and distribution – feed 10,000 people in the Ndlambe municipal area.
Chicory SA was bought by Humansdorp-based The Co-op in 2020.
The Co-op has not confirmed that Chicory SA is closing down; however, they have confirmed that they are busy with Section 189 engagements, commonly understood to be the retrenchment process.
A separate source with knowledge of the industry said the factory was set to close its doors at the end of this month.
Mark Lake put his lands under chicory 20 years ago. At peak, he had 115ha planted and supplied 2,700 tons a year to Chicory SA for processing.
“Chicory was half of our farming turnover. So it’s a big loss. We’re all trying to deal with losing that income.”
Lake and other commercial farmers have the depth to be able to pivot and switch focus.
“Beef farming is more profitable now,” he said.
Input costs are high for chicory. First, it’s labour-intensive. With weeding and harvesting, there were six months of seasonal work a year for 70 people on Lake’s farm alone. Most of them were women.
“That’s in addition to the farm’s permanent staff,” Lake said. “Chicory has to be grown meticulously: about two weeks of every month that it’s growing, it has to be tended and weeded.”
Even if help does come from the government, it will probably be too late.
“You can’t grow a crop that is expensive to cultivate and not know if you’re going to get paid for it. Also, the factory needs a minimum of 15,000 tons a year to be viable and there aren’t enough farmers left who can grow that quantity of chicory.”
Lake said if there were a tariff on imports, local farmers would stand a chance.
Talk of the Town understands that while there was some production directly for local consumers, Chicory SA effectively had one very big customer.
“That company could import chicory from India more cheaply than it cost us to produce it,” Lake said. “So they did. This is an entire value chain that’s gone.
“From the guy that supplied the tyres for the farm machinery, to the man who recruited and transported seasonal workers, and the permanent and seasonal workers themselves – they’re all feeling it. I don’t know what those people will do now.”
Transport operator Mthuthuzeli Fulela, 67, had done so well from the industry that he’d bought his own vehicle, and then a second one.
One was used to transport seasonal workers from along the Sunshine Coast; the other he had converted to a tipper truck, so he could transport the chicory harvest to the factory.
“That was my main, main, main work. Both of those 8-ton trucks are standing now and I’m missing a lot of money.”
Sinethemba Tshintshitiki, 36, lives in kwaNonqubela, Alexandria. She’s worked on different chicory farms in the area for the past six years to support herself and her two children, who are 13 and four. Her last employment was in November.
“There is no other work here. We are still suffering because now there is no chicory. There is no food in my home at the moment. I have to empty rubbish bins to find cans that I collect and sell for money to buy food for my children.”
Freek Meyer, secretary for both The Co-op / Die Koöperasie and Chicory SA, did not confirm that Chicory SA is closing. However, he said: “We are busy with the Section 189 process with Chicory SA. I can’t comment until that is finalised.”
Section 189 of the Labour Relations Act lays down the procedure for employers to follow when they are considering dismissals based on their operational requirements.
Meyer said Chicory SA employs 28 permanent staff and a number of seasonal workers.
Meyer did, however, confirm that Chicory SA had been in financial difficulty. He also acknowledged that cheap chicory imports had been an issue.
“There are other factors too,” Meyer said.
Around 16 years ago, Ndlambe municipality began discussions with commercial chicory farmers to empower emerging farmers.
“Chicory SA has always been an anchor employer in Alexandria,” municipal manager Rolly Dumezweni told Talk of the Town. “And 80% of those employed were women.”
Six months ago, in an attempt to rescue the situation, Dumezweni led efforts to engage the political heads of agriculture and finance in the province to assist in keeping Chicory SA afloat.
“We knew we could not afford for Chicory SA to go down because Alexandria would become a ghost town.”
Despite several meetings, that support hadn’t been forthcoming.
Dumezweni said Ndlambe Mayor Khululwa Ncamiso was engaging with the new MEC for agriculture in an attempt to rescue Alexandria’s economic engine.
Talk of the Town
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