According to Gysbert du Toit, marketing director at Dutoit Agri, increasing erratic weather patterns severely impact the management of apples. Ongoing power cuts are a thing as well.
“Extremes in heat, rainfall, and hail have become the new normal,” Du Toit said, adding that a spike in temperature even if only for a day, can cause fruit to get sunburnt. Drought is another constant threat. “The lack of consistent power inhibits our ability to apply irrigation where needed most effectively,” he added.
According to Du Toit, the current energy crisis has had an impact on the production of apples, not only in terms of financial costs at farms and packhouses, but also in terms of human resources. DuToit, a renowned grower and distributor of premium fruit and vegetables, produces 200 000 tons of fruit in total each year, with apples accounting for 80% of that total, or about 900 million apples annually.
Source: foodformzansi.co.za
