Photo: Hannes Esterhuyse
Hannes Esterhuyse runs a mixed farming operation in the Williston area of the Karoo Highlands, which comprises Dorper sheep farming and seed onion production. The two components complement each other, with the sheep providing cash flow throughout the year, while the cropping component provides an annual lump sum that helps service loans and large debt repayments.
Although he has only been producing seed onions for about 10 years, Esterhuyse says it’s this component that has ensured his survival during the drought years in his region.
“We had some really, really tough years, and I can honestly say if it wasn’t for the seed onions, I wouldn’t still be farming,” he adds.
He also says it soothed his soul during the hard times: “The seed onion component was my saviour during the drought. In the afternoons when I would get home after a long day of struggling with skinny sheep, I’d take a walk through the onion lands, and just seeing the green, growing life would soothe me. That’s what helped me keep my mind in the right space.”
Esterhuyse says the two components have brought balance to his farm.
“The seed onion component has grown from a small side branch to the point where my crop now generates as much income as my sheep.”
When he first started with the seed onions, he was running a herd of about 2 200 lambing ewes. Thanks to the security and diversification the crop provides, he has reduced his flock to around 1 600.
He explains that this is a more sustainable number that also provides him added drought resistance, as lower numbers are less of a burden on the feed resource.
“Due to the drought, we could not run the numbers we were used to running in the past.”
In the beginning
Esterhuyse’s family has farmed in the Karoo for generations, but he spent several years working as an agricultural economist with Land Bank before returning to full-time farming.
He has always sought ways to diversify, including buying and selling land, exploring value-adding ventures, and even trying garlic cultivation.
He invested in a piece of irrigation land near the family farm in 2011 to branch out into lucerne production. Around this time, while travelling past Matjiesfontein to the Boland, he first noticed a patch of green in the arid Karoo where someone had planted onions.
“Every time I drove past, I vowed I would go in there one day to find out more,” he adds.
Then, in 2015, Klein Karoo Seed Production (KKSP) announced it was hosting an information day in the area about seed onion production. Esterhuyse says around 10 people attended, and of those, only three bought into the idea.
“I immediately asked [the company] to do a site visit, because I intended planting [seed onion] the next season,” he says.
In that first year, Esterhuyse planted a small patch of 0,6ha, with two other farmers who also planted bringing the total area for the region to about 3ha.
Over the past decade, he has expanded his land under seed onion to 8ha, with 16 farmers in the Williston area collectively covering 50 ha.
“We have seen a lot of aggressive growth over the last three years in particular,” he adds.
Esterhuyse believes the 8ha he has, spread across six sites on different farms, is a good balance for him in terms of land and water availability.
“I’m not chasing hectares. I’d rather keep the area smaller but do it more effectively without sacrificing yields,” he explains.
Longitude and altitude
According to Esterhuyse, the seed onion produced in Williston is highly
sought-after by European buyers because it is grown on the same longitude line as commercial onion producers in places like the Netherlands and at a similar altitude to other major production regions.
The area is also prized for its ‘virgin’ soils, which reduce the risk of pests, such as thrips and nematodes, and diseases like basal rot, associated with onion production. Another advantage is the region’s cold units, with winter temperatures around Calvinia, Williston, and Fraserburg often colder than in other parts of the Klein Karoo or Tankwa Karoo.
These cold temperatures support the plant’s early growth and eventual seed development.
Esterhuyse says there are two companies currently involved in seed onion production in the region, namely KKSP, with whom he has worked from the outset, and a recent addition called JW Seeds.
These companies provide planting resources, including bulbs, expertise, and technical know-how, and also do final cleaning, sorting, and marketing of the seed product.
He adds that he has built a strong relationship with KKSP and remains loyal to the company because it gave him a foothold in the industry.
Seed onion cultivars
Esterhuyse says there are two cultivar choices for growers: open-pollinated (OP) or F1 hybrid.
The OP varieties are far easier to grow, as they are self-pollinating and have the advantage of providing far higher yields, around 1,5t/ha. However, prices for these varieties are far lower, averaging US$14 to $16/kg (about R240 to R275/kg).
The hybrid variants require male and female plants, as well as bees for pollination. Esterhuyse says planting is done at a ratio of 75% female to 25% male plants. Yields are lower than OP cultivars, at around 0,6t to 0,8t/ha. However, this is offset by the premium for hybrid seed, averaging $30 to $50/kg (about R515 to R860/kg).
Esterhuyse says the dollar-based price is set at the start of the year, before planting, so farmers know what to expect.
His main market is onion producers in the Netherlands, though markets also exist elsewhere in Europe, as well as in the US, Japan, China, and Israel. Major global competitors include Argentina, Brazil, and Australia.
How it works
Seed onion production takes place over a one-year cycle. It is far more complex than the extensive sheep farming traditionally practised in the Karoo, as it requires timely action, strict routines, and no delays.
“It isn’t like sheep, where you may see something needs to be done on a Friday and decide to let it wait until the Monday. If you need to spray on a certain day, it has to happen right away.”
Mother seed is imported into South Africa by international companies and distributed by local seed companies to growers for planting onion bulbs. Esterhuyse says the bulbs are also produced in other regions, such as Ceres and along the Orange River, where large tracts are grown under pivot irrigation.
The bulbs, which are the same as supermarket onions, are then harvested and delivered to seed growers by February.
Planting is done by hand and starts in April. From then through to August, the plants start growing, and it is at this time that the cold units are necessary for development.
During initial growth, plants are watered every four to five days, with the frequency increased to every third day in September as they begin flowering.
Pollination takes place in November, and the seed then begins to set, with harvest time from around mid-December through to early January. Harvesting is also done by hand, with seed dried in sheds on racks and with the use of fans until the appropriate moisture level is reached. It is then cleaned in a thresher and is about 85% to 90% clean by the time it is delivered to seed companies in bulk bags.
At this point, the seed is out of the farmers’ hands. Seed companies finalise cleaning, remove dead or unviable seeds, and test germination rates, which must reach a minimum of 87%. Once approved, the seed is bagged, dispatched to international clients, and payment is made upon bagging.
Planting and harvesting
Although most work is done by hand, machinery is used beforehand to prepare the land.
Esterhuyse says ideally, you need deep, loose soil with a fine bed. He creates 300mm furrows with two rows of bulbs in each, an irrigation line running down the middle, and 600mm between the double rows of plants.
In-row spacing is eight to nine bulbs per metre, with an ideal density of 150 000 to 170 000 bulbs per hectare, depending on the cultivar. This is the density prescribed by international buyers.
Planting is done by hand, requiring roughly 30 to 40 casual workers per hectare per day.
“You can’t really use machinery to plant, as the bulbs must be placed in the ground the right way up,” Esterhuyse explains.
At harvest time, the staff requirement is about 20 to 30 people per hectare per day.
Seed onion production has greatly influenced unemployment in the Williston area, with almost all seasonal workers previously having no form of employment.
“You could say onion seed producers are the largest providers of temporary jobs in Williston,” he adds. 
Efficient use of a precious resource
Lands are planted only once every four years to prevent disease, with fallow periods in between. Esterhuyse says since water is such a precious resource in the Karoo, he prefers to leave the land to rest and reserve water.
“At a rough estimate, onion seed uses about one-third of the water required to produce lucerne under flood irrigation, for example. Lucerne is grown in the hot, dry months, whereas onion seed is produced in winter and early summer when temperatures are milder,” he explains.
He manages water down to the last drop using drip irrigation, which allows him to measure usage precisely.
“We have enough water, but it must be used responsibly. Unlike my father, I don’t use flood irrigation. With drip systems, I know exactly how much water is being applied, with no waste.”
He replaces irrigation pipes annually to prevent leaks, as the groundwater’s high fluoride content can cause calcification, which blocks pipes. The pipes cost around R1/m, with 1ha requiring 11 000 to 12 000m of piping.
He also doesn’t extract water from a single point, instead drawing it from numerous windmill-powered wells and pumping it to a central point for irrigation. Irrigation is also enabled with the use of solar-powered pumps.
Apart from pelleted fertiliser applied before planting, all other feeding is done via liquid fertiliser through the pipes.
This has meant that his staff have had to learn new skills, including careful monitoring of filters and other components essential for precision irrigation.
Esterhuyse stresses the importance of routine. Onion plants thrive on consistent cycles, so following the established schedule is more important than adjusting based on feeling for soil moisture.
High risk and hard work
Seed onion production is not for the faint-hearted. Esterhuyse describes it as a “calculated risk” that requires a dynamic approach, hard work, attention to detail, and expertise.
“It isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme,” he adds.
Input costs are extremely high, between R200 000 and R300 000 per hectare, depending on variety and other factors. Bulbs are the largest expense, followed by transport. Other costs include fertiliser, pesticide and herbicide, labour, renting hives for pollination, and irrigation equipment.
The work is labour-intensive, which brings its own challenges: “If you cannot work with big groups of people, then you shouldn’t consider planting onions.”
One of the biggest risks is late-season frost. Esterhuyse says frost in late September can be devastating, with farmers losing entire crops due to frost at critical stages. He experienced this one season but was able to save a portion of his crop with immediate intervention in collaboration with a technical adviser from KKSP.
This year, he planted his 8 ha across six sites, using three cultivars. The strategy spreads risk, which includes late-season frost, diseases, pollination problems, and rare flash floods that could wash away an entire crop.
He explains that anyone contemplating getting into the industry should look at it as a five-year strategy.
“One year, you make nothing; then after two years, you break even; and then for two years, you make a lot of money. The problem is you don’t know in what order that will happen and you need to be able to carry it financially if you have a bad year,” he explains.
Esterhuyse says it isn’t necessarily a massive amount of work, but it demands consistency and careful risk management.
For more information phone Hannes Esterhuyse on 078 221 8352.
