EU’s recognition of rooibos’s unique status ‘will boost demand’

THE EU HANDED over a certificate to the rooibos industry in the Western Cape earlier this week in recognition of it being registered as a protected designation of origin (PDO).

Rooibos is produced from the endemic South African fynbos plant aspalathus linearis, and has become popular as a caffeine-free herbal tea and antioxidant food ingredient.

The PDO identifies and links a product to a region and associates its quality and reputation to that area.

Rooibos will now receive the same protection as champagne and parmigiano (cheese), creating greater product recognition and demand, thereby stimulating job creation.

The certification for PDO in the EU was handed over by its ambassador to South Africa, Dr Riina Kionka, during a ceremony presided over by Western Cape Premier Alan Winde.

Winde said rooibos was the first African product to receive PDO status from the EU, which would afford greater access to the industry.

Kionka said it was great news that South Africa’s agri-food exports to the EU had grown to just under R40 billion despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The successful registration of ‘rooibos/red bush’ as a geographical indication will contribute to South Africa, not only sustaining but growing jobs and incomes in benefiting rural communities,” Kionka said.

The SA Rooibos Council’s legal director, Dawie de Villiers, said rooibos formed part of South Africa’s rich biodiversity and that the registration would pave the way for other indigenous species, such as buchu and aloe ferox, to be indicated as PDOs and reap similar rewards.

Rooibos producers would be able to include the PDO logo on their products.

The registration means rooibos can be used only to refer to the dried leaves of pure rooibos, farmed in the relevant municipalities of the Western Cape and the Northern Cape.

Western Cape MEC for Agriculture Dr Ivan Meyer said the PDO signalled a quality product not only to those in Europe but worldwide.

He said an increase in demand could be expected by discerning consumers, with the benefits eventually trickling back to the farms in the designated production areas.

An application to have the rooibos name protected outside of Europe was under way: an application has been submitted to the World Trade Organisation for an International Harmonised Systems Code for rooibos.

The Western Cape government was exploring how other products from the province – such as proteas, honeybush, buchu, aloe ferox, Karoo pomegranates and Karoo lamb – can receive the same protection as rooibos.