Article by Nichola Watson
H
oedspruit and Letsitele, where about 60%
of South Africa's grapefruit is grown, is in a
serious drought situation, to add to the
woes of the growers the area was also hit
by hail last November which has made predictions for
the coming season even lower.
Erwee Topham from Alliance Fruit said that some
growers will see a total loss but the average will be
around a 30-50% drop in volumes from the area.
"The situation here is very serious, some growers have
more water than others but in general water restrictions are at 30% in Letsitele and 60% in
Hoedspruit. The lack of water had a negative impact on
fruit set and size," he explains.
Some older orchards have already been taken out to
preserve water, while others have been cut down and
painted white to save the trees for future years.
"We only have around 8-10 weeks left of the summer
rain season, if there is not some significant rain in this
period then the dams won't have water for next year
to set any crop," according to Erwee. "So far this year
the Hoedspruit area has only had 14-25mm of rainfall
which was two weeks ago and with daily temperatures
between 35-42 °C we need some more rain for sure."
The grapefruit harvest will start on time despite the
drought which has brought other fruit crops on earlier,
but grapefruit is one of the fruits which keeps on growing and if they can leave it a few weeks longer (water