It’s been a great year for lemon growers in southern KwaZulu-Natal, say brothers Ken and Woodburn, mixed farmers from the Umzimkulu Valley outside Ixopo. “We’ve seen extremely good prices for lemons,” Mike explains. “Our agents, Capespan, are targeting Japan, Russia, Europe and the Middle East with lemons from our valley. In particular, the Russian and Eastern markets have performed exceptionally well, due to a global shortage of lemons in the early part of the season.” However, while lemons are booming, demand for Navelates has taken a knock. “We have a good Navelate crop with Brix levels exceeding 12, but the market is only taking limited quantities compared to last season,” says Mike. “Last year the Navelates sold well in the Korean and Far Eastern markets confirming how hard it is to predict market demand from one year to the next.”
A new focus
The Woodburn family farmed dairy, sugar and timber until 1995, when they took a strategic decision to close the dairy and establish citrus orchards. This also allowed for the expansion of the sugar and timber enterprises. Now, the farm has 320ha sugar, 290ha timber and 80ha citrus consisting of 18ha Palmer navels, 16ha Rustenburg navels, 21ha Midnight Valencias and 25ha Eureka lemons. While the sugar industry is currently experiencing lower prices, and timber prices are strong due to a global shortage of wood, it’s citrus that has proven to be the feather in this family’s cap in recent years. Citrus contributes 40% to farm turnover, with cane and timber contributing 30% each. In an exceptional year like this, the 25ha of Eureka lemons alone may contribute more than 40% to citrus turnover.
“The decision to put so much faith in lemons wasn’t easy, but with the good lemon prices of the past two seasons, and especially this year, we’re smiling,” says Mike. Lemons are achieving excellent yields of 65t/ha to 75t/ha of high-quality fruit. This is in sharp contrast to orange varieties, which struggle to achieve 40t/ha. The Woodburns are considering expanding their lemon production by top-working some of the Valencias. This involves cutting the tree down just below the graft and re-budding with a lemon cultivar. It’s expected these trees should be back in production with lemons within three years. Apart from the lemon expansion programme, the family business is consolidating. “We’re focusing on doing what we do better, by using new technology, production efficiency and reducing our overheads,” explains Mike.
Citrus growers band together
The Woodburns were among several farmers in the Umzimkulu Valley who’ve established citrus since 1996 for export markets. About 280ha was planted with 175 000 citrus trees over six years and started producing marketable fruit in 2001. The farmers – Peter Button, Erik Egeland, Ken Holmes, Sean Stewart, Peter Hackland, Peter Hancock, Dave Reynolds and the Woodburns – realised that the most cost-effective and reliable method of packing would be through a central packhouse. They formed a private company, Carisbrooke Valley Citrus (CVC) and in October 2002 won the tender to purchase the Tambankulu packing equipment from Swaziland.
With the help of George Gibson Enterprises and a lot of effort, the equipment was relocated to their valley and erected in time to pack the 2003 crop. While buying a secondhand machine effected a huge capital saving, there’s still been considerable cash flow stress. “It has been a busy five years with a lot of infrastructural development taking place in between packing six crops of fruit,” says Mike. “Most of the orchards will reach maturity in 2010 and the packhouse needs to be able to cope with those increased yields.”
The packhouse infrastructure includes the pack line from Tambankulu, two de-greening chambers, a carton erection shed, waste and factory hoppers, a chemical-free packing line with optic sizing technology and vast areas of concrete. “By citrus standards our area is still in its infancy,” Mike continues. “We still have much to learn about the technical aspects of citrus production and we’re still acquiring the equipment needed to effectively manage citrus farms, such as delivery vehicles and spraying equipment, and developing effective packhouse management systems.”
Thriving markets
In the 2003 season, CVC growers picked 2 800t. This increased to 3 500t in 2004. By 2005, the trees were maturing and they saw a big upward swing to 7 000t, which was maintained during 2006 before picking up to 7 500t in 2007. An estimated 8 500t will be packed this year – but there’s still a way to go before CVC’s growers reach their target of 12 000t. The chemical-free packing line, initiated by Capespan five years ago, has paid early dividends. It excludes certain post-harvest treatments and uses only a spore killer and natural wax. “We’re packing a chem-free lemon for the Japanese market and last year packed chem-free Valencias for Europe.
These markets achieved premium prices, and in particular our Japanese customers have been very happy. Our chem-free lemon market has grown from 2 000 cartons when we started to 40 000 cartons this year.” Sending citrus to Japan requires a cold sterilisation process that can lead to heavy waste. As a result, lemon growers are pulling out of this market. Justin Chadwick, CEO of the Citrus Growers Association, says lemon exports to Japan have dropped from 600 000 cartons in 2003, 545 000 in 2004, 222 000 in 2005 and 191 000 in 2006 to 164 000 in 2007. So far, 161 000 cartons have been sent this year. Experts believe the microclimate in CVC’s orchards gives the lemons an edge.
“The weather causes our lemons to develop a slightly thicker rind, making them less vulnerable to the cold sterilisation process. This gives us a marketing advantage,” says Mike. Other strengths include excellent colour and very high Brix levels for the navel cultivars. Most of CVC growers are EurepGAP and Nature’s Choice accredited. CVC and Capespan are exploring further niche market opportunities for fruit packed on the chem-free line. “This will give us market diversification and let us market a greater spread of fruit,” says Mike. “One such market is the Tesco chain in the UK. The 2008 season saw CVC deliver its first fruit to this discerning market.”
The sting of land claims
The sting in the tail is that the future of this fledgling industry lies in the hands of the Land Claims Commission. “All eight citrus growers in the area have land claims on their farms and seek a sustainable post-settlement solution,” says Mike. “Until the claims are settled it will be very difficult to make long-term investment decisions. However, we’re talking with the relevant government departments in an attempt to find a sustainable long-term solution.” “A well thought out strategy will result in the continued growth for this industry and its many stakeholders. However, settling the land claims before putting a post-settlement plan in place will ruin this management- and labour-intensive industry.” Contact Mike Woodburn on (039) 834 9053 or e-mail [email protected]. Contact CVC on (039) 834 9360 or e-mail [email protected]. |fw
The price of lemons
South African lemons have had an exceptional year in Europe and the UK, says Coenie du Plessis, Capespan product manager for lemons. “Lemons have fetched prices four or five times their normal values. From R80 to R90 per 15kg carton, this year they sold for R230/carton to R240/carton in Europe and the UK at times, with organic fruit going as high as R270/carton to R280/carton.” The high prices were due to a shortage at the tail-end of the Spanish season. “Spanish growers had quality problems and adverse weather, presenting us with opportunities and empty markets,” says Coenie.
However, seedless lemons didn’t get a premium this year. In fact, growers found it was better to export them as normal lemons, otherwise they’d have to pay a royalty. With chem-free lemons in Japan selling for about R110/carton to R120/carton, Coenie says they had hoped for higher prices. “These prices are on par with what we normally get from Japan, although in some cases we achieved R130/carton.” On the flip side, when markets are strong and prices high, the claim rate goes up. “Customers are quick to claim if fruit quality does not suit their specific needs as they’re paying so much for it. When the market price is fairly low, customers tend to take whatever they can lay their hands on.”
