Eastern Cape produces 27% of South Africa's citrus
Most provinces recorded a positive economic growth in 2015 as compared to 2014. However, this development has fallen short of the demand for employment and economic opportunity, especially for youth and the increasing number of graduates.
Eastern Cape, the powerhouse of the Southern African citrus industry
Citrus in South Africa is the second largest fruit crop after grapes in terms of production volumes. The Eastern Cape, being the powerhouse of the Southern African citrus industry, accounts for 27% of citrus production in the country.
The Eastern Cape boasts the most progressive and successful black citrus growers in the country, accounting for more than a third of South Africa's exports and is home to 50% of South African lemons.
The citrus industry development is spearheaded by the Citrus Growers Association and the transformation in the sector is led by a dedicated unit, the Grower Development Company. Through the levies from producers, the Citrus Growers Association and the Grower Development Company transformation is targeted by supporting the development of the current 118 black citrus producers in the country and increasing this to create equity in the sub-sector across the entire citrus value chain.
Within the NDP target to increase irrigated production areas by 500,000ha by 2030, the development agenda for the citrus sub-sector will contribute to achieving this target.
The Eastern Cape produces 60% of the lemons, 30% of the soft citrus, 26% of the oranges and 3% of the grapefruit exported from the country.
The Citrus Growers Association Grower Development Company, will target the expansion of 50ha new citrus trees and support 100ha of pre-bearing trees, benefiting 32 black producers. The programmes will provide training and capacity development for 36 black farmers, and contribute to the creation of 75 new employment opportunities and an increase, over time, in the capacity for export production by 820,000 cartons.
In 2016-17 the department budgeted an amount of R19.1-million and a further investment of R22.4-million (2017-18 financial year) has been set aside for completion of the state-of-the-art Ripplemead citrus packshed in Ngqushwa that will provide export-compliant processing and packaging for local black farmers. This will further enable expansion in the area of some 400ha of citrus plantation along the Keiskamma River over the ensuing five years.
source: bizcommunity.com
