As South Africa’s apple harvest comes to an end, some producers characterise it as an “average” season while for others it was “dismal”.
In both the Western Cape and Eastern Cape the past winter was unsatisfactorily dry with below average cold units, followed by low spring and summer rainfall in the Langkloof where dams are close to empty.
Fruit size was negatively affected by the warm and dry conditions with higher than usual incidences of sunburn. In the Western Cape growers had difficulty obtaining good colour under these warm conditions.
“The prices weren’t very good, both domestically and for export, while the apples themselves were smaller and lighter. Quality wasn’t what we would’ve liked. The fruit is dry and the shelf life will be shorter,” Barry Hose of AR Fruit in Villiersdorp tells FreshPlaza. “It was a season full of surprises, not an easy season.” They finished last week with Sundowners.
Du Toit Agri, with apple producers in the Western and Eastern Cape, reports that under difficult conditions some cultivars produced record harvests while others underperformed.
Western Cape growers are hoping that the winter rains will start in the next month; the Theewaterskloof Dam is currently 15.6% full.
Furthermore, some apple orchards in the Langkloof, Eastern Cape, were hit by hail, further reducing packouts. There were heavy losses in some Free State orchards due to successive nights of frost (in some places lasting for a week) during the spring of 2016, killing or damaging the apple blossoms.
“It was a pretty dismal season for us,” says Doug Osler of Lone Tree Farms near Fouriesburg in the Free State, which accounts for 2% of South Africa’s apple production. “We lost 90 to 95% of our harvest and of what remained, the quality was affected. We only put through a third of our usual volume through the packhouse. Fortunately another producer who packs with us, had a record crop this year on his side.”
“The domestic apple market was sluggish this year,” he continues.
For more information:
Barry Hose
AR Fruit
Tel” +27 72 802 3235
Email: arfruit@gmail.com
Doug Osler
Lone Tree Farms
Tel: +27 58 223 0751
Email: dco@lonetreefarms.co.za