Pomona grow the Herschkovitz and Wonderful varieties. The Herschkovits variety is harvested from the end of February to the end of March and they harvest the Wonderful which is a slightly larger fruit from the beginning of April to the beginning of May.
Pomona currently only grow in the Swartland region of South Africa (about 100km from Cape Town) which has great conditions for growing fruit such as olives and pomegranates, but Brent says they are looking for other opportunities in other Sub-Saharan African countries such as Namibia and Botswana. "We currently have over 100 hectares under production and are looking to plant an additional 100 hectares at the beginning of 2013."
Pomona started growing pomegranates in 2008 and it takes about 5 to 6 years for the trees to reach full capacity where they should be able to harvest up to 30 tons per hectare. "We will only produce about 300 tons this season, but that will grow to about 2500 - 3000 tons as the current plantations reach full capacity expected in 2016", says Brent.
According to Brent, quality this year was better than anticipated given the young age of the trees. Around 50% will be export quality fruit, 30% processing grade fruit and the remainder being juicing quality fruit. The export quality fruit will rise to 70% as the trees reach full maturity.
Quite a few farmers in the area lost up to 25% of their production this year owing to a combination of false codling moth, white fly and the fruit fly. Pomona had zero issues with pests as they pride themselves in using the very best farming practices and strict spray programmes to minimize this risk, but also ensure zero chemical residue in the fruit at harvest time.
Pomona started juicing the juicing quality fruit this year. The company expects to produce about 20,000 litres of fresh (not from concentrate) juice this year for the wholesale market and this could increase to 500,000 litres per year in the future as the production levels of pomegranates in the area grows. South Africa has approximately 1250 hectares of pomegranates most of which was planted in the last 3 years and so the production is ramping up quite quickly.
Pomona export mainly to Europe and the UK. However, countries like China and Russia and becoming more and more exciting growth areas for them. For the company Canada, where they have already exported a small quantity, is also one of their target markets.
Brent sees a good future for South African pomegranates, with good prices from the Northern Hemisphere within the South African season. The fruit is also gaining popularity due to the health benefits. New varieties such as Heschkovitz and Wonderful are proving more popular with consumers as they are easier to eat than the old varieties that have a harder white "pip" at the bottom of the arils.
There are about 2,500,000 tons of commercially grown pomegranates grown in the world each year of which less than 100,000 tons is grown in the Southern Hemisphere. Brent reckons this will change over the next 10 years. At the moment India and the Middle East are by far the largest growers of pomegranates.
As the pomegranate industry is relatively new in South Africa, Pomona have faced additional challenges as well as the aspects faced by every producer. There have been issues with regards to the certification of certain fertilisers and sprays that growers need to use as well as regulatory issues around standards of fruit that can be allowed to be exported, these are all extremely necessary processes to go through to ensure that South Africa maintains the high standard of fruit that is being provided to the global markets.
For more information:Brent Geddes
Pomona
+44 7500 964 978
brent@pomegranatesdirect.com
www.pomegranatesdirect.com