AGRICULTURE NEWS - Despite farm-gate prices for rooibos currently being under pressure, farmers have expressed optimism about the EU’s acknowledgment of South Africa as the designation of origin of rooibos.
This followed the recent announcement that rooibos officially became the first African food product to ever be registered by the European Commission as having a protected designation of origin (PDO) along with protected geographical indications.
With this move, rooibos joins the likes of Champagne, Irish Whiskey, Porto and Queso Manchego.
Wimpie Smit, a rooibos farmer from Jakkalsvlei near Clanwilliam, told Farmer’s Weekly it would benefit everybody in the industry that rooibos was now the exclusive property of the Western Cape and parts of the Northern Cape.
Read the full article here on the Caxton publication, Farmer's Weekly
