Members of the South African fruit industry have been paying tribute to Japie Groenewald, founder of packer-exporter Betko Fresh Produce, who died yesterday following a car accident near Elgin in the country's Cape region.
One of the South African fruit trade's most colourful members, Mr Groenewald was seen as a leading entrepreneur who helped to transform the country's fresh produce business from its highly regulated form during the single-channel era to a free-market system that has seen exports from the country double in little more than 15 years.
'Japie Groenewald was one of the most modest members of the South African industry and has made an immeasurable contribution to the fruit growing community in the Villiersdorp region,' Dawie Rossouw, a well-known Capespan fruit specialist who has been involved with growers in the Elgin-Villiersdorp region for more than 30 years, told Fruitnet.com.
Mr Groenewald grew up on a smallholding alongside the Sonderend River, below the Riviersonderend Mountains in the Western Cape, where he later founded two family farms, Oubos and Sunnyside.
During the regulated era, he started his own local fruit distribution business and, when international markets opened up, became one of South Africa's leading exporters.
Betko's modern coldstorage and fruit packing complex at Villiersdorp was subsequently established and became a rallying point for many smaller producers who found it hard to survive on their own.
'The everlasting legacy of Japie Groenewald is the support he gave to the local fruit-growing community and the way he supported smaller growers through difficult times,' says Mr Rossouw. 'This included the creation of work in the local community and the housing complexes he established for staff at Villiersdorp and on the farms.'
During the past ten years, the Betko business expanded rapidly and Mr Groenewald in particular played a pioneering role in developing the African market – Betko now packs around 50,000 tonnes of apples and pears every year. Of this volume 80% represents apples.
The packhouse and coldstorage complex at Villiersdorp has 72 controlled atmosphere rooms with a total capacity of 98,000 bulk bins.
Mr Groenewald’s son, Roux, said the Groenewald family and the Villiersdorp community had suffered 'a devastating loss'.
A memorial service will be held at Villiersdorp on Friday, 26 February 2010.
