SOURCE: Lindi Botha, Farmers Weekly Dragon fruit production is gaining ground in South Africa as farmers get to grips with production methods and market demand grows. While the area planted to dragon fruit is expanding, farmers have had to grapple with a lack of information on production methods suited toContinue Reading
SOURCE: Lindi Botha, Farmer’s Weekly There can be few fruit cultivars whose origins are as unusual as that of the new passion fruit variety, Silesia. When drought struck North West in the mid-2010s, game breeder Darryn Stoltz, who farmed in the province, began to look for a nutritious source ofContinue Reading
SOURCE: Glenneis Kriel, Farmers Weekly Mangoes offer a potential turnover of R1 million/ha, but whether this is achieved depends on your production per hectare, when your crop hits the market, and supply and demand, says Bernie van den Heever, co-owner of Cape Mango in the Olifants River region in theContinue Reading
The Roberts family planted the first citrus trees on the original Baddaford farm, outside Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape, in 1903. In 1908, the first fruit was exported in wooden crates. Baddaford farm amalgamated with Riverside, owned by the Painter family, in the 1990s, and has been a citrusContinue Reading
SOURCE: Susan Marais, Farmers Weekly Despite improved producer prices, pineapple farmers are feeling the pinch of rising input costs. Former Agricultural Writers South Africa’s farmer of the year Fred Visser, owner of Gwanzi Queen Pineapples near Hluhluwe in KwaZulu-Natal, told Farmer’s Weekly that the plastic covering for the plants andContinue Reading
by Amit Srivastava, Free Press Journal Though the mango season is yet to begin in India, the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) Vashi has received a total of 1500 boxes of Malavi mangoes from Africa on Wednesday. This is the second year, when the Malavi mangoes have been imported becauseContinue Reading
Pineapple producers in the northern KwaZulu-Natal region have expressed the hope that as the economies in overseas countries start to “open up” after the COVID-19 pandemic, exports will re-commence and even increase.Continue Reading
The South African avocado export forecast has been cut by some 2millions cartons as the effects of Covid-19 on international markets becomes clearer.Continue Reading
SOURCE: SA People News Alcohol consumers in South Africa are getting plastered on pineapples after the nationwide alcohol ban in lockdown sparked a craze of turning the tropical fruit into powerful home-brew. Supermarket bosses have revealed that 10 times as many pineapples are being sold at TWICE the price sinceContinue Reading
South African research facility Du Roi Laboratory has struck a deal with a Taiwanese institute to grow and market a banana variety resistant to Fusarium wilt Tropical Race IV (TR4). The deal announced on Wednesday gives Du Roi the rights to the Formosana variety and allows it to monitorContinue Reading
Despite its exotic appearance, dragon fruit has struggled to take off in South Africa due to its generally bland taste. But it was the striking appearance and globally acknowledged health benefits of the fruit that caught Howard Blight’s attention five years ago and led him on a journey toContinue Reading
A South African dragon fruit venture that is introducing new varieties into the country is rapidly building momentum and excitement. The first volumes of trademarked varieties marketed under the Amorentia Sweet Dragon Fruit brand were sold on the domestic market this past summer season, and inaugural exports to EuropeContinue Reading