Avocado is full of a number of nutrients that you might not readily get from your regular meals. It is also a delicious food that you can enjoy anytime either as breakfast, a snack or a dessert.
Avocado can as well be used to boost the nutritional value of your favorite baked snack. It is an excellent replacement for butter because it is naturally cholesterol-free. The creamy texture of avocado not only replaces the fat beautifully but the fruit is also brimming with protein and heart-healthy monounsaturated fat.
Avocado Production in South Africa
Avocado was first introduced to South Africa in the 1920s by one farmer from Durban who planted seedlings from West Indies. But it was not until the mid-60s that more farmers organized themselves into Avocado Growers’ Export Coordinating Committee which became Transvaal Avocado Growers’ Association in 1969. The organization changed in 1971 to what it is now known as South African Avocado Growers’ Association (SAAGA)
The area under avocado production in South Africa has expanded fast over the past decades. From about 2,000 hectares in the 1970s to over 12,500 hectares in recent years. The average annual production is 80,000 tons.
According to market data company, Statista, nearly 114.5 thousand tons of avocado were produced in the period between July 2018 and June 2019. This is a big jump from 86.1 thousand tons produced in 2017/2018.
Here is the production volume of avocado in South Africa from 2009 to 2019.
Avocado Production in South Africa 2020
In 2020, South Africa produced 135,315 tons of avocado which is up from 121,156 tons produced the previous year. A census by SAAGA estimates that 14,700 hectares were under avocado trees by 2020 with an average of 800 hectares of new plantings annually.
South Africa Avocado
Even though avocado in South Africa is grown in five provinces, it is mainly concentrated in the rural areas North East of the country. The warm, subtropical climate of the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces provide the most ideal conditions for avocado growing. Rainfall in these areas is high, more than 1,000mm p.a. and they are situated between 825m and 1,250m a.s.l.
Limpopo accounts for 58% (8,336 hectares) while Mpumalanga accounts for 24% (3,484 hectares) of the total avocado produced. The other three provinces are KwaZulu-Natal at 14% (1,948 hectares) and both the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces are at 2%.
Some avocado orchards are in semi-arid areas where rainfall is low, up to 400mm p.a. Avocado in South Africa is mainly grown in the following areas:
- Levubu
- Letaba
- Soutpansberg Mountain Range
- Tzaneen
- Hazyview
- Nelspruit/Mbombela
- Eshowe
Over the last 10 years, avocado production in South Africa has been fairly stable. 2018 was a peak harvest year due to:
- Improved yields
- Avocado varieties that are easily marketable
- Improved water management practices
- Innovative agricultural practices like high density planting
- Investments in new avocado orchards
Some of the factors that are behind the significant increase in production in 2020 are:
- More farmers abandoning traditional cash crops like mangoes, bananas and sugarcane to grow avocados.
- New land developments like under-utilized communal land being turned into avocado farms through lease agreements.
Since avocado is a highly sensitive crop, adverse weather conditions affect production. There were huge declines in volume in 2015 and 2016 as South Africa experienced one of the worst droughts in 30 years.
The demand for year-round availability of avocado has been on the rise. This has pushed more farmers into avocado growing as well as those from areas outside the main avocado growing regions to jump on the bandwagon. This will reduce the need for the country to import the fruit.