A recent plum cultivar information day at Culdevco’s head office in Stellenbosch was well attended by growers, exporters and nurseries. Agricultural Research Council-bred varieties such as Ruby Sun, African Delight®, Ruby Star, African Rose® and Flavour Star are currently South Africa’s top cultivars. They have grown from 32% of the export market in 2020/2021 to 50% in 2022/2023.
The ARC-bred plum varieties have all performed exceptionally well internationally over recent years with Ruby Sun being Culdevco’s most popular plum. It’s a delicious mid-season cultivar that peaks at AA/AAA and the fruit that has storage capability of six to seven weeks. In 2017, 211 hectares of Ruby Sun were planted in South Africa and this has now grown by over 41% to 511 hectares in 2022, yielding 55-60 ton per hectare.
Source: farmersreviewafrica.com
