The following article appeared on the 'Het Financieele Dagblad' website (https://fd.nl/) on 28 December 2023. The link to the article will be at the bottom of the blog post.
Protected status of local lamb helps South African farmers
Sheep farmers in the South African Karoo have managed to obtain protected status for their lamb after a long lobby. Not everyone is immediately enthusiastic, but the success of rooibos tea promises something.
France has roquefort and champagne, Greece has feta and ouzo, Italy has parma ham and prosecco, and South Africa has rooibos tea. And, recently, karoolam. This regional product received a protected geographical indication from the South African Ministry of Agriculture in October: legal demarcation to keep counterfeit products off the shelves. For the farmers, who have lobbied for a long time, it can be called a small miracle.
The Karoo, a semi-desert in the interior of South Africa, has about 3,500 sheep farmers. Most families have lived there for more than three generations, but that of Enoch Ralehoko (46) for less than five years. He came here in 2019, after a career in the agricultural sector and at the provincial agriculture department. Ralehoko learned to farm from his father, a dairy farmer on the green east coast of South Africa. “This is the best way to live,” he says. 'You hardly have any stress. Only when we moved here did I realize how dependent the city is on external factors.'
Ralehoko's yard is an hour and a half drive from the last shred of civilization in this void: Beaufort-West, the unofficial capital of the Karoo. In the shelter of planted trees, Enoch and his wife Franscina keep chickens for their own consumption and grow vegetables. The money is earned with Merino sheep: 600 ewes and 13 rams (for breeding and wool), and 221 lambs (for slaughter). A lamb is ready for slaughter after about five months. The abattoir currently pays the farmer 70 rand (€3.43) per kilo, but that is not a certainty because prices differ per week. A carcass weighs between 16 and 22 kilograms, but not every kilogram can be sold.
All in all, the existence of a sheep farmer in the Karoo is simple, if not meager. But that doesn't deter Enoch Ralehoko: 'You shouldn't do it for the quick money. This work requires a very patient person who is willing to work on something lasting.”
Very fine wool
The Merino sheep was brought to the Karoo two centuries ago by Anglo-Italian immigrant John Molteno (a local celebrity). The originally Moroccan breed had found its way via Spain to British sheep farmers, and eventually to the colonial fronts of the Commonwealth - including South Africa. Sheep were already there, but the native species produced wool that was far too greasy for the textile factories in Victorian England. The merino sheep, on the other hand, produces very fine wool, and in large volumes.
The Karoo turned out to be extremely suitable for sheep farming. There was plenty of affordable land. Grassless, yes, but with an endless supply of shrubs. The Merino sheep brought unprecedented prosperity to the area: land prices quadrupled, sheep farming intensified. Wool production is still important for the area. According to the trade body National Wool Growers Association of South Africa, the country has 6,000 commercial wool producers. In addition, there are also 4,000 sheep farmers who supply wool as a by-product, in addition to meat production. Together, the wool trade brings South Africa 5 billion rand (€242 million) a year, according to the trade association.
The area offers another important advantage for the production of lamb. Because the farmers who brought the merino sheep to the Karoo brought their cattle to a place whose vegetation influences the taste of the meat in a special way.
"Here, smell." Raleheko pulls out a branch of a bush and rubs the loose flowers between his thumb and index finger. A strong, spicy scent is released, reminiscent of camphor, lavender and sage. "And here, this one." He bruises the needles of another shrub in his hand and smells. The scent has something lemony. At night all the aromas are released. When I'm on patrol in the dark and can hardly see anything: smells, wherever you smell. You can immediately taste it when a lamb has grazed in the Karoo. It makes the meat very spicy, the taste is completely unique.'
Protect product
The Protected Geographical Indication is the result of more than ten years of lobbying and research. Johann Kirsten, director of the Office of Economic Research at Stellenbosch University, led the process on behalf of the livestock farmers in addition to his professorship at the University of Pretoria. 'Seventeen years ago, on behalf of a French development organization, we started researching foods with an origin in South Africa: rooibos, honeybos, karoolam. That study was completed in 2008 and the farmers said: isn't it a good idea to protect our product? We then set up a consortium to register a certification mark with the Ministry of Agriculture. The first application failed because major retailers and one producer in the region were against it. The right to a geographical indication belongs to everyone in the region, and they thought we were trying to hijack the entire industry. Ultimately, the ministry mediated and drew up a simple set of rules.'
From now on, Karoolam may only be sold as Karoolam if the lamb was born in the Karoo, it has roamed freely, it has grazed on the flora that form the Nama-Karoo biome and the Succulent Karoo biome and if the lamb is grown in the region is slaughtered. Farmers now receive a premium of 3 rand (€0.14) to 5 rand (€0.24) per kilo of lamb sold on top of the sales price, depending on how fatty the meat is. Abattoirs buy the meat from the farmer for more money and pass on the higher cost price. Ultimately, it is the customer who pays the premium through a higher price for the end product. Farmer Enoch: 'It makes a huge difference for us.'
The Ministry of Agriculture was, in a sense, forced to protect lamb from the Karoo, says Kirsten, because of a trade agreement that South Africa concluded with the European Union in 2016. 'Under that treaty, products with a geographical indication must be protected in both the EU and South Africa. But the European delegation was not happy with the outdated legislation that was supposed to guarantee protection in South Africa, so a new framework had to be created.'
Rooibos tea was the first South African product to receive protected status within the EU (manufacturers fully own the name). It is currently still subject to South African trademark law, but will soon be subject to similar rules as lamb from the Karoo.
Supplementary feeding and stable storage are against those rules, and anyone who unlawfully sells his meat to wholesalers as certified lamb risks confiscation and a fine. Farming families who have lived here for two hundred years and let their sheep eat from feed troughs and keep them in the stable, will have to let the animals outside if they want to eat this cake. Not everyone is happy with the protected status, for which every sheep farmer in the region is eligible.
Natural cycle is fragile
Jaco Spamer (56) has now submitted his application. The carcasses are hanging in his butcher shop in Beaufort-West, waiting for approval. Spamer has been farming for 32 years now. He keeps more than 2,000 sheep on 25,000 hectares: villagers, dormers, meatmasters, swartkoppersies and merinos. 'I sincerely hope that this whole project gets off the ground. Fuel and food prices have risen, labor is more expensive and support for livestock farming in the Karoo is declining due to drought. That premium makes up for a lot. Not all farmers are happy with it, but this is really something that will take a long time. Only time will tell.'
In farmer Enoch's yard, the lambs are checked for ticks. The teeth also undergo an inspection. A nerve-wracking experience for the animals, which is why it doesn't happen too often. 'A ewe produces healthy lambs for about five years. When they only have eight teeth left, you should start thinking about replacing them. We will soon choose the ones we want to keep for next year. The rest goes to the slaughterhouse. The quality of the meat depends on how you treat the animals and the season.'
It is currently very dry in the Karoo. The last rain fell a month ago and it wasn't much. And if it ever rains, it pours right away. Heavy rainfall a few years ago left deep wounds in the landscape. The soil in the area does not absorb water well and flooding is not a rarity. Farmer Enoch: 'The minerals in the soil (which, together with the oils in the bushes, give the vegetation their aromas, ed.) were washed off the farm, which in turn affects the vegetation and ultimately the quality of the lamb.' The natural cycle is fragile.
Enoch Raleheko would like to install gabions on his property and dig trenches on the mountain slopes to drain rainwater, but because he leases his 6,400 hectares of farmland from the national government as part of a land reform program, he is limited in what he can do. 'In fact, the Karoo as a whole should be a protected area.'
Export restriction
There is a long-term vision behind the status protection of lamb. Johann Kirsten, from the Bureau of Economic Research in Stellenbosch, said: 'Karoolam would be a fantastic addition to the haute cuisine in European cities, but due to the ridiculous restriction on red meat exports to the European Union, South Africa is currently unable to export red meat. The European Food Safety Authority finds it hard to believe that there are no diseases in this part of the country, even though we are completely isolated.'
In order to gain the same international recognition for lamb as for rooibos, the Ministry of Agriculture must now first submit a registration for protection with the European Union. There is a lot to gain economically: rooibos is currently exported to thirty countries and provides work and income to 5,000 people in South Africa, according to the South African Rooibos Council.
The consortium of sheep farmers do not dare to say how much more work and income the Karoo will have as a result of the protected status. Farmer Enoch is nevertheless optimistic. He currently has four people working for him permanently, and sporadically hires additional workers from Beauforst-West. 'Next year I hope to expand. With a thousand ewes you need two extra permanent workers.'