Limpopo Business 2017-18 edition

OVERVIEW
and Europe, which constitute almost
all of South Africa’s foreign
market for avocadoes, are rising
exponentially.
In response to this demand,
and the potential of the Chinese
market, almost 1 000ha per year
of new land is being planted with
avocadoes in South Africa.
The same amount of new
macadamia planting is under
way every year, according to the
Southern African Macadamia
Growers’ Association (SAMAC),
adding to the existing 19 000ha.
The other two really big sellers
are mangoes and tomatoes.
Limpopo grows three-quarters of
South Africa’s mangoes and twothirds
of its tomatoes.
The Waterberg District produces
large quantities of red
meat, Capricorn has potatoes in
abundance, Vhembe in the north
specialises in citrus and subtropical
fruits, Mopani has those fruits
too – and the Mopani worm.
The Sekhukhune region in the
south-east is a grain-producing
area. One of the best-known
products of the region is Amarula
cream liqueur.
Initiatives
Five Agri-parks will be established
in Limpopo, as part of
the R2-billion plan of the national
Department of Rural
Development and Land Reform
to roll out services that will help
farmers get better access to market
and storage facilities.
Support in terms of equipment
hire and information will be
available. Markets where farmers
can sell their produce and processing plants such as abattoirs will form
part of the parks and farmers will gain access to market information and
bigger markets through the Rural Urban Marketing Centre.
Training will also be on offer at the parks and the aim is to get local
farmers owning 70% of the facility.
The University of Venda and the University of Limpopo are working
on research into crop and seed improvements, particularly related to
climate change adaptation.
The provincial government gave support to 3 000 households
to produce their own food in their backyard gardens during the
2016/17 financial year and hopes to increase this number to over
5 000 households.
The Ilima/Letsema conditional grant, which strives to improve
productivity of emerging farmers in Limpopo, disbursed funds to 47
projects benefiting a total of 2 333 beneficiaries. A total of 680 farmers
were assisted in gaining access to markets. In the 2017/18 financial year,
the Ilima/Letsema grant total of R67-million will support 90 projects, 15
538 emerging farmers: 2 718 smallholder farmers, 12 791 subsistence
farmers and 29 black commercial farmers.
Other programmes were badly affected by drought conditions, the
Fetsa Tlala programme, for example, having to be scaled back to work
only with farming areas with enough irrigation water. Having come
through the long-term drought in the early months of 2017, Limpopo
and several other northern provinces then had to deal with the effects
of the Fall Army Worm. It was detected early and strong measures were
taken to mitigate its effect.
The Phethwane Integrated Aquaculture Project stalled after a bright
start in 2011, but a Fishery Imbizo held at the Tompi Seleka College
of Agriculture in Marble Hall aimed to resuscitate the project. The
national Deputy Minister of Agriculture visited the project in late 2015
and encouraged local fishers to aim to supply 500 tons of fish. Iran was
mentioned as a potential market for the fish.
The Tompi Seleka College is itself in the spotlight, having been
reopened in 2015. Together with Madzivhandila College (in the Thula-
Thula Municipality in Vhembe District), enrolment has increased from
140 in 2015 to 222 in 2016. Limpopo is trying to grow its own farmers.
Location
Limpopo’s location gives it a strategic advantage in terms of providing
fresh produce to Gauteng, the densely urbanised economic centre of
South Africa.
Within Limpopo, the Mooketsi Market has used its central position
to boost trade in farming produce. The market is at the crossroads
of two busy routes: Polokwane to Giyani (R81) and Tzaneen to Louis
Trichardt (R36-N1).
43 LIMPOPO BUSINESS 2017/18