What began as a practical response to international scrutiny has evolved into a nationally recognised assurance programme
The Sustainability Initiative of South Africa (Siza) celebrated ten years as an independent organisation at a glamorous event in August, but the milestone reflects more than organisational growth.
It tells the story of a South African agricultural industry that recognised long before many of today’s sustainability requirements became mainstream that it needed to take responsibility for its practices, manage risk, and demonstrate to international markets that it could be trusted.
What began as a relatively small industry initiative has developed into a national sustainability assurance programme which supports more than 40 agricultural commodities, connecting South African producers and exporters with hundreds of international buyers.
Siza’s journey has never been about getting everything right from the start. Agriculture operates in a complex environment shaped by daily labour, environmental, climatic, financial and operational pressures.
Instead, the programme is built around a practical principle: identify risks, address them, learn and continuously improve. For an export-oriented industry, this goes far beyond passing an audit. It is about remaining responsible, resilient and ‘compliance fit’ to secure continued international market access and future growth.
An industry that chose to act
Siza’s origins reach back several decades, to when efforts were being made within South Africa’s export fruit sector to strengthen labour practices and respond to growing international scrutiny.
By the mid-2000s, industry association Fruit South Africa recognised that codes of conduct alone were no longer enough. The industry needed credible evidence that responsible practices were being implemented and that risks were being identified and addressed.
Importantly, this response came from within. Rather than waiting for international customers, regulators, or external organisations to determine what was required, South Africa’s agricultural stakeholders worked together to develop a programme aligned with international expectations while remaining relevant to local farming realities.
That principle remains central to Siza. It was not created on the assumption that agriculture would be perfect, but because the industry wanted to understand its risks, improve its practices, and demonstrate that it was taking responsibility.
Real-world relevance
In 2016, Siza became an independent, self-sustaining non-profit organisation with formal governance structures and an independent board of directors. A fundamental principle has been translating international expectations into systems that work within the South African agricultural context.
Siza’s chair Nicholas Dicey says this balance is one of the programme’s strengths: “By grounding its standards in South African legislation while incorporating globally recognised best practices, Siza ensures that compliance is both meaningful and achievable.”
That distinction matters. Compliance takes place in a practical environment shaped by weather, labour availability, fluctuating markets, rising input costs, water constraints, and infrastructure challenges. The objective therefore cannot simply be to identify what is wrong. It must also be to understand the risk, find practical solutions and support businesses in improving.
Over the past decade, Siza’s third-party audits have recorded 60,932 findings, of which 60,096 – approximately 99 per cent, were corrected. An audit finding does not necessarily indicate deliberate non-compliance; it may identify a process that needs to be improved, formalised, or better understood.
The next, crucial steps
Siza requires corrective actions to be addressed before audit completion letters are issued, while between-audit monitoring helps businesses maintain compliance throughout the three-year audit cycle.
Its value lies not in pretending challenges do not exist, but in providing a structured way to identify them, to act, and to demonstrate improvement.
For many producers, particularly those supplying demanding international markets, this work takes place against a backdrop of constantly changing requirements. They navigate evolving legislation, retailer expectations, human rights due diligence, environmental requirements, climate-related risks, water security, and increasingly complex demands for evidence and traceability.
Protecting market access
South Africa is an export-driven agricultural economy, and responsible production is increasingly linked to commercial opportunity. International recognition of Siza has grown from 58 markets and buying relationships in 2016, to 368 in 2026, while more than 32,000 visibility links now connect buyers and suppliers through the MySiza platform.
This acceptance has been built through years of engagement with retailers, importers, sustainability specialists, and technical teams, helping international markets understand South African farming realities while enabling producers to understand changing customer expectations.
Those expectations continue to expand. Human rights due diligence, environmental responsibility, traceability, and credible grievance mechanisms are becoming embedded in international supply chains.
For exporters, remaining compliant is therefore increasingly a condition of doing business and selling South African products in global markets.
Less duplication, more capacity
Producers already face numerous audits and customer requirements. Siza has therefore focused on benchmarking and collaboration with programmes such as GlobalGAP, Sedex and Leaf Marque to reduce duplication and make compliance more practical.
Participation has grown from 992 legal entities in 2016 to 2,537 in 2026. Since 2019, more than 300 training sessions have reached over 15,400 participants, while environmental audits increased from 20 in 2020/21 to 452 in 2025/26.
These figures show more than organisational growth. They reflect an industry increasingly investing in understanding its responsibilities, managing risk, and improving its practices.
Towards the next decade
For CEO Retha Bekker, Siza’s tenth anniversary is ultimately about what can be achieved when an industry takes ownership of its future. “The past ten years have proven what vision, courage, and collaboration can achieve,” she says. “The next ten years will be defined not by how far we have come, but by how boldly we continue to grow, innovate, and lead with purpose.”
As Siza enters its second decade, the objective is not to create an industry without challenges or risks. It is to support one that understands those risks, takes responsibility for them, improves continuously, and can demonstrate that commitment internationally.
For South African agriculture, remaining ‘compliance fit’ is increasingly essential to protecting market access. More fundamentally, it reflects an industry committed to continued progress because its future competitiveness depends on it.
