With the grape harvest well underway, early indications are that South African Fruit Exporters (SAFE) is on course to meet this season’s production estimates.
Harvesting started on SAFE’s three Northern Cape farms in week 46, with selective pickings of early sweet grapes, followed by prime white seedless varieties in week 47 and red seedless grapes in week 48.
“The crop is better than last season, harvesting is running exceptionally smoothly and the grapes are very healthy and with very good colour,” reports SAFE farms general manager Dries van Rooyen. The farms have been running at 60% of their packing capacity but will gear up to 100% from week 49.
Van Rooyen believes the three Northern Cape farms will deliver their targeted 530 000 cartons, with the balance of the SAFE’s group’s estimated total production to exceed 2 million cartons. This includes an estimated 838 250 cartons for the FairTrade market.
With the grape harvest well underway, early indications are that South African Fruit Exporters (SAFE) is on course to meet this season’s production estimates.
Harvesting started on SAFE’s three Northern Cape farms in week 46, starting with selective pickings of early sweet grapes, followed by prime white seedless varieties in week 47 and red seedless grapes in week 48.
“The crop is better than last season, harvesting is running exceptionally smoothly and the grapes are very healthy and with very good colour,” reports SAFE farms general manager Dries van Rooyen. The farms have been running at 60% of their packing capacity but will gear up to 100% from week 49.
Van Rooyen believes the three Northern Cape farms will deliver their targeted 530 000 cartons, with the balance of SAFE’s estimated total production of 2 063 546 cartons coming from its three Western Cape estates. This includes an estimated 838 250 cartons for the FairTrade market.
SAFE has made a number of improvements to its Northern cape farms, including:
- Expanding the cultivated area under netting from 80% to 95%;
- Installing an irrigation system to enable better measurement of water usage. This has led to a reduction of between 18% and 23% in water consumption, enhanced crop growth and more even berry sizes, says Van Rooyen;
- Achieving FairTrade accreditation for Nuweland farm;
- Undergoing pre-audits for BRC Global Standards safety and quality certification for pack houses and
- Preparing for the installation of cold room facilities on the Oranjestroom farm. This will mean that all three Northern Cape farms will have these facilities.