“ I have been involved with rooibos tea since 1985 and have seen prices and the industry as a whole hit rock bottom three times. When I was delivering my tea to other buyers, I realised I needed to do as much as possible myself. I once arrived at the man I was supplying and wanted to see what he did with my tea. We walked to his drying yard, which was covered in tea, and I asked him where mine was. He looked around, hesitated and then drew a line through the tea on the drying yard with his foot.‘ That side is yours and the rest belongs to the other people,’ he said. That motivated me to build my own drying yard, something I have never regretted,” Herman says of the beginning of his journey with this sought-after product.

It also reduced his transport costs, as he no longer had to drive to Clanwilliam almost every day during harvest to deliver tea.

CONTROL OVER HIS OWN TEA

The drying yard was built in 2001, but problems with rooibos and salmonella contamination put pressure on prices. One of his buyers offered to pay him only 50 % of the value

External Parasite Control