South African avocado production: a success story

Avocado production in South Africa has expanded markedly since the industry's humble beginnings over 80 years ago. From a small grove planted in 1938 in what was then Nelspruit, the industry has blossomed to seven million trees planted on 20 000ha. Dr Guy Witney, project manager at Great Brak Avos, spoke to Annelie Coleman about the country's avocado production.

-  Dr Guy Witney

Dr Guy Witney, project manager at Great Brak Avos in Mossel Bay, Western Cape, says avocados likely originated from the mountainous rainforests straddling Mexico and Guatemala. Today, wild avocados are found in the coastal tropical lowlands and mountainous highlands of Central and South America.

Avocados were probably introduced to South Africa by Dutch settlers coming from the West Indies between 1652 and 1700.

“Interestingly, in some parts of South Africa, large, low-oil fruit from West Indian seedling trees, often referred to as ‘butter avocados’, are still common backyard trees and are preferred over higher-quality MexicanGuatemalan hybrid avocado varieties introduced later from California,” he explains.

HASS AND FUERTE

Between 1932 and 1938, the first experimental avocado cultivar evaluation block was planted by the then department of agriculture near Mbombela, then known as Nelspruit.

Once it was confirmed that imported California varieties performed well in the region, the first commercial plantings took place in the same area in 1938. These first commercial plantings were mainly of the Fuerte variety and were established in the mountainous areas of the Lowveld near Tzaneen and Mbombela.

“Although there are hundreds of varieties of avocado in the world, around 90% of crossborder international trade in avocados is of the Hass variety. This variety is also the main cultivated variety in South Africa, followed closely by Fuerte. Other important varieties grown in South Africa are GEM, Lamb Hass, Maluma, Carmen, Pinkerton, Ryan, and Reed.

“Mexican-Guatemalan hybrid varieties introduced from California in the 1930s now dominate commercial production in South Africa. The green-skinned Fuerte dominated production until early in the 21st century, and while it remains important, it has been overtaken by Hass and newer dark-skinned Hasslike varieties like GEM and Lamb Hass,” says Witney.