Dragon fruit is the fruit of a climbing cactus plant. “It is an extremely difficult crop to grow as all pollination needs to be done by hand, at night. Therefore it is doubtful if it would ever be produced in large quantities,” explained Clive Garrett of ZZ2. “The main focus of the farm is on cactus pears and avocados. At this stage there are no plans to expand production on the Dragon fruit. After the season has ended we will look at the performance and then decide what needs to be done.”
Harvesting began in December 2015, and is expected to continue until early in May 2016. Garrett says that there has been a reasonable crop this season.
“The response from the market has been very promising. It is however a niche product and is very expensive at this stage due to the limited volumes on the markets,” says Garrett. “The product is sold on the national fresh produce markets and has been sent to Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban so far.”
For more information:
Clive Garrett
ZZ2
Tel: +27 15 395 8460
Email: cliveg@zz2.biz
www.zz2.biz