How 'bout them apples?

South Africa is known for its delicious fruit, but have you ever thought about what goes into getting those crisp, sweet apples from the orchards to our supermarkets? PM toured the Ceres Fruit Growers facility in Ceres to get the low-down.

- By Evan Samuel

The FRUIT-GROWING SECTOR is a key player in South Africa's agricultural sphere. High-quality fresh fruit is always widely available locally, but did you know that vast quantities are also exported overseas, making it a crucial contributor to our GDP?

While things might always look rosy to the consumer, who buys apples at their local supermarket, the fruit industry is constantly facing challenges. To overcome these, role players are always innovating, striving for technical solutions to complex problems.

ORIGINS

In 1652 the Dutch East India Company founded the Cape of Good Hope as a refreshment outpost for its passing ships. Deciduous fruit trees were planted to supply ships with fresh fruit. Ten years later, in April 1662, the first two ripe apples were picked at the Cape - these were Witte Wijn appels. Stone fruit and pears followed, and gradually small farmers started experimenting with other top fruit crops, and sold their produce to passing ships.

Since those small beginnings apple production has blossomed into an industry with more than 36 million trees covering some 25 000 ha. The total South African production is just more than one million tons, of which 460 000 tons are exported. The local market consumes 290 000 tons and a further 252 000 tons are processed as fruit juice and dried products.

Apples are primarily grown in the Western Cape on the farms surrounding Ceres, Wolseley, Elgin and Villiersdorp. The gross tonnage for these areas is 76 per cent of total South African production.