Limpopo Business 2017-18 edition

OVERVIEW The market is

OVERVIEW The market is owned by ZZ2, FGX (which facilitates transactions between buyers and sellers) and the RSA Group, which is the market agent and has about 30% of market share of fresh produce markets in South Africa. The Vhembe District in the far north and the Letaba Valley in the eastern Mopani District are major contributors to the Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market, with Limpopo growers as a group contributing about 45% of the produce sold at Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market, Africa’s biggest market. ZZ2 is the major brand of Bertie van Zyl (Pty) Ltd, which produces 160 000 tons of tomatoes per year. The company also specialises in onions, both of which appear in different forms under 12 brand names. The company has large farms in four areas of the province: Mooketsi, Politsi, Polokwane and Musina; it also operates in the Western and Eastern Cape. The company has 8 000 full-time employees and is increasing its production of avocadoes and litchis. Westfalia is another huge enterprise, part of the Hans Merensky Group, and it is world’s largest avocado grower. It also produces significant quantities of mango, litchi, citrus and macadamia and has three agri-processing plants in the province. Avocado oil is processed in Tzaneen, juice and avocado purée is made at Politsi and dried mangoes are produced at Hoedspruit. Westfalia has large farms in the Letaba River Valley (Constantia Estate), the Hoedspruit district (Marieskop Estate) and in the Mooketsi Valley (Goedgelegen Estate). Organic avocados are also farmed in KwaZulu- Natal Province. The Westfalia Nursery produces more than 130 000 trees every year. Westfalia Technological Services has six teams researching areas such as pathology, horticulture and genetic resources. Relatively new entries into commercial farming are former cooperatives, and they have proved successful. The two most active in Limpopo are NTKLA (with its headquarters in Modimolle) and Afgri, South Africa’s biggest agricultural company, which has its headquarters in Centurion (Gauteng). NTKLA is a shareholder in Venda Roller Mills in Thohoyandou and operates 10 grain silos, 23 retail outlets, 28 flour depots and one coldstorage facility. Crops The Levubu Valley in the north is particularly fertile with guavas and macadamia nuts among the crops that thrive there. Valley Farms is a successful enterprise that grows fruits such as mangoes and guavas, and produces concentrates, purées and dried fruits. Afgri’s soya plant at Mokopane (Nedan) has increased annual production to 195 000 tons of soya beans and 60 000 tons of sunflower, the result of a capital injection of R180-million in 2011. Greenway Farms supplies about 45% of the fresh-market carrots consumed in Southern Africa under the Rugani brand. A R6-million carrot combineharvester is the only one of its kind in South Africa. Letaba Citrus Processors is a part of the African Realty Trust, which also owns two large farms: Letaba Estates and Richmond Estates. The Rhodes Food Group has a canned vegetable facility near Louis Trichardt. Cotton is grown at Loskop, North and South Flats, Wiepe and Dwaalboom/Thabazimbi. There are 2 855ha under irrigation and a further 326ha of dry land operations. Limpopo provides about 32% of the national harvest. Citrus Most of South Africa’s citrus and subtropical fruit comes from the eastern part of Limpopo. Soft and time-sensitive fruits, like avocados, are exported out of the Port of Cape Town and transported to that city by truck. Citrus is taken to the ports of Durban or Maputo. The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) is getting behind citrus farming in Limpopo. Falling under the IDC’s Agro- Industries Strategic Business Unit, a funding agreement has been signed with Naranja Packers which will see new farms established, established farms converted to different cultivars and the packing house expanded. The brands Clemengold and Sweet C LIMPOPO BUSINESS 2017/18 44

OVERVIEW are marketed under Indigo Fruit Farming, which is wholly owned by ANB Investments. The packing house in Burgersfort processes up to 600 large crates of fruit a day in season, with each crate containing about 350kg of fruit – or slightly more than 2 000 tons. Citrus exports to the EU have grown steadily. In volume, exports to the EU in 2015 accounted for 40% of total citrus exports (30% oranges, 66% mandarins, 24% lemons), up from 36% in the prior season. A new entrant to the export market is the GOGO Group, located in the Loskop Valley, where intensive citrus cultivation takes place. Exports will be sent to the United States of America through parent company EKM Exports. The Zebediela Citrus Estate has been bought by the Bjatlhadi community with the support of the Limpopo Local Economic Development Programme, and the focus has shifted from bulk supply to producing smaller, consumer-friendly quantities. Livestock Government planning at provincial level includes the promotion of red and white meat “clusters” along all the development corridors identified in the province. This includes the promotion of hygienic practices, the establishment of small-scale abattoirs and assistance in marketing of products. The province has about onemillion beef cattle, about 7.5% of the national herd. A new indigenous breed of cattle has been developed called the Pinz²yl, from breeding Pinzgauer and Nguni stock. This is an initiative of the same farming group that grows the ZZ2 tomato, with the name derived from the famous European breed and the name of the farmer who started it all, Mr Bertie van Zyl. International demand for venison is in the region of 50 000 tons per year and South Africa only supplies about 2 000 tons of it – a clear opportunity for Limpopo entrepreneurs to grow their share of the market. ONLINE RESOURCES Agro-Food Technology Station, Limpopo University: www.ul.ac.za ARC Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Crops: www.arc.agric.co.za Citrus Growers Association: www.cga.co.za Deciduous Fruit Producers Trust: www.dfpt.co.za Limpopo Department of Agriculture: www.lda.gov.za National Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries: www.daff.gov.za South African Fruit Farms: www.safruitfarms.com South African Macadamia Growers’ Association: www.samac.org.za South African Subtropical Growers’ Association: www.subtrop.net South African Sugar Association: www.org.za 45 LIMPOPO BUSINESS 2017/18