A relatively new apricot variety, Carmingo, has brought great success to farmers in the Koo Valley. The Carmingo is a range developed and owned by the International Plant Selections (IPS) in Spain and France. The fruit has a distinct red colour and is bigger than the more traditional apricot varieties farmed in South Africa, like Babeco and Imperial. They are also known to have a better shelf life.
Farmers in other farmers parts of the country, even those just outside the Koo, have not been as fortunate. Most of the Carmingo’s are exported as there is a big demand for them in overseas markets. They have been lucky as the Ukraine-Russia war has not influenced the apricot market too heavily as it has done with other fruit. Their biggest markets are Europe and the United Kingdom. On the downside, the logistics crisis at the Cape Town port earlier this year, was as unkind to these farmers, as it was to other farmers with export fruit.
Source: hortgro.co.za