Limpopo Business 2017-18 edition

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
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