Hishtil Nurseries, Israel's largest grower of vegetable plants, has signed an agreement to set up a nursery in South Africa. The new facility is being established in cooperation with private entrepreneurs in the northern part of the country, at the heart of one of South Africa’s major vegetable growing regions.
Gady Elsar, manager of Hishtil R&D and overseas projects, said the nursery will cover 5ha and will supply vegetable plants to local farmers. “It will have particular emphasis regarding farmers who market their produce to quality stores and those who grow for export,” said Elsar. He added that over the next few years, Hishtil aims to set up additional nurseries throughout South Africa.
The South African nursery is Hishtil's 11th nursery - it has five in Israel and five in Italy, Greece and Turkey. All the nurseries outside Israel have been established with local companies and market plants to local farmers in their respective countries. Hishtil, established 31 years ago, has been introducing grafted plants in recent years as they are stronger and more disease-resistant, requiring less pesticide use. The company’s grafted plants include watermelons, melons, cucumbers, tomatoes, aubergines and capsicum.
