Cape Town - Farmers and producers in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors had lost over R1 billion since transport unions embarked on a two-week strike.
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson said as the strike continued, the biggest concern was the potential loss of jobs and the risk that the country's reputation as a competitive player on the world market would be harmed.
"As from this week our losses are becoming acute, so we are entering a very risky period," she said, adding however that the department had "confidence" that the negotiators would come to some resolution.
She said though 30 000 of the 100 000 jobs that had been lost over the last year had been reclaimed in the last quarter, the department feared that this would be undone if the strike carried on because it put jobs at risk.
The fruit industry had lost R1bn alone, while the department was now compiling estimates in the grain, livestock, fisheries and forestry sectors.
At least R650m of the losses were in the citrus industry and last week exporters were levied with an R80 million port congestion fine for 70 000 pellets that were awaiting loading at the Cape Town harbour.
The minister also confirmed that it was experiencing difficulty with plug points as more fruits were held in cold storage.
The department had requested farmers to delay the ripening of certain fruit, but Joemat-Pettersson said this was no longer possible.
Added to this the citrus season had already begun and the country was beginning to experience "bottlenecks".
"At the moment the 2010 deciduous fruit industry is peaking in the apple and pears commodity groups. In addition the agricultural sector is entering the citrus and avocado season," said Joemat-Pettersson.
The fruit sector had been particularly hard hit as it had also been affected by the volcanic ash which struck Europe late last month and again in recent weeks which had halted air traffic to the northern continent.
In certain instances air freight is being utilised to get produce out, while some fruit was being re-routed through the Namibian port of Walvis Bay, however the strong Rand was making these options rather expensive, she said.
