Ginger: a challenging crop, but well worth the effort

Cultivating ginger is costly on all fronts: time, labour and water. But managed correctly, the crop adds good cash flow to a farming business. Jaco Lubbe of Sabie Valley Ginger in Mpumalanga spoke to Lindi Botha about getting this demanding rhizome to pay off.

- Lindi Botha

South Africa’s booming macadamia industry has presented an interesting opportunity for growers of the crop to cultivate ginger. Since both crops demand the same climate, and macadamia trees take five years before they are in production, the rows between the trees offer an ideal space during this period to plant ginger.

This is what led Jaco Lubbe near Kiepersol, Mpumalanga, to take up growing a crop that he well knew was difficult. His father, Japie, was one of the first ginger producers in South Africa and first planted the crop some 20 years ago, but then gave up cultivating it.

“Ginger is a very intensive operation, so it takes up a lot of time. My father felt that the other crops on the farm needed more attention, so he stopped planting it,” says Lubbe.

“About five years ago, we decided to start growing ginger again because we needed the cash flow while waiting for our macadamias to come into production. Initially, we planted it between the macadamias as we had unused space between the rows, and the macadamias could also benefit from the nutrients we feed the ginger.

“Ginger has a high nutrient requirement, so we’re constantly supplying nutrients through the micro-irrigation system. The macadamias utilise some of these as well.”

Sabie Valley Ginger is a family business, and in addition to Japie, Lubbe’s brothers Jurgens and Japie Jr form part of the enterprise. They cultivate macadamias, ginger, turmeric and galangal on the farm.

LAND AND LABOUR

The family currently plants 15ha to ginger and are increasing this area annually due to high demand for the crop, and the relatively low local supply.

Ginger is an annual crop but requires constant attention, according to Lubbe. “It’s highly labour-intensive and most of the processes are manual. We need around seven workers per hectare for harvesting, washing and packing.