Nooyenskopje near Haenertsburg, Limpopo Province, is the South African market leader in kiwi fruit. “We’ve had a wonderful harvest,” says Danie Meyer, self-taught kiwi farmer for the past 24 years, who has converted pine plantations into kiwi orchards. The last of the green kiwi were harvested this week for domestic marketing while British exports ran until two weeks ago.
Situated 1,659m above sea level on the escarpment which drops down to the much hotter Tzaneen, the climate is perfect for the cultivation of kiwis: mild summers, 800 to 850 cold units in the winter and exceptionally high rainfall. From the beginning of December until two weeks ago, Nooyenskopje received 1,865mm of rain. This is one area of South Africa that has not been affected by drought.
Not only South African, but also consumers as far north as Nigeria depend on this farm to satisfy their growing kiwi appetite. The farm produces between 12 and 15t of class 1 kiwis weekly for supermarket groups like Shoprite Checkers (which has a substantial footprint throughout southern Africa), Woolworths and Spar. The fruit is bio-certified by the Woolworths’ Farming for the Future initiative and no pesticides are applied.
It also delivers a weekly 3 to 5t of green kiwifruit, starting in the second week of March, to the UK’s Marks & Spencer for use in fruit salad, as well as smaller fruit to the domestic fresh produce markets as well as to a processor for use in dried fruit rolls and candied dried fruit squares.
“We will definitely in the future consider export opportunities to the Far East with our expected increased volumes of yellow kiwis. The yellow kiwi is about 6 weeks ahead of the green kiwi. In fact, on our farm the yellow ones have already started budding,” he says.There are currently 27ha under kiwis on Nooyenskopje, with a further 7ha to be developed this season, to be roughly equally divided between green kiwis (primarily the Hayward variety) and yellow kiwis, Actinidia chinensis.
The first kiwi fruit to be harvested are the kiwiberries in mid-January, followed by yellow kiwis during the first week of February. The green kiwis, most familiar to South African consumers, start during the first week of March, usually until the end of June.
The green kiwifruit is, due to the protection provided by its hairy skin, less prone to damage during harvesting and packing than the smooth-skinned yellow kiwi.
Many new varieties are trialled at Nooyenskopje’s evaluation block for the genetic division of the Faculty of AgriSciences of Stellenbosch University. Meyer is excited about the red kiwi fruit varieties they are evaluating at the moment and he frequently hosts visitors from across the world, including New Zealand kiwi growers, on his farm. All of the farm’s growing material, both rootstock and scions, are propagated on the farm, both by seed and vegetatively.Kiwi fruit farming is a labour-intensive business: bees are brought in for propagation, but to ensure optimal fruiting Danie Meyer and his team collect pollen by hand and then walk through the rows and pollinate the female flowers. The female to male ratio in his orchards is 5:1.
Now is the time for pruning, while he waits for the cold of winter. “Part of our success this season can be attributed to a number of changes we made to our pruning practices, coupled with a really good, cold winter last year. This year it’s been somewhat disappointing thus far. We usually get between 48 and 50 days under freezing starting in mid-May but this year it hasn’t been that cold yet,” he says.
For more information:
Danie Meyer
Nooyenskopje
Tel: +27 82 568 3224
Email: danie@nooyenskopje.co.za