The South African stonefruit industry is currently undergoing a substantial boom in the development, release and production of plum varieties developed in South Africa.
Nurseries have seen record sales of three new plum varieties and since 2008, the combined new plantings of these have been around 370 hectares. These varieties have all been developed in South Africa and are ideally suited for production in South African conditions.
African Delight has proven to be the most popular new variety, a late red cultivar that ripens at the same time as the black-skinned Angeleno and Southern Belle.
Dr Leon von Mollendorff, general manager of Culdevco, the cultivar development of the deciduous fruit producers’ associations in South Africa, said: “We are excited about [African Delight] because it has an exceptionally sweet taste at 18 brix - the norm for plums is between 11 and 15 brix - and has very good storage quality. This plum variety is also very fertile and as it is a self-pollinating variety, it also delivers a higher yield per hectare. Since its release last year, growers have already planted about 220ha of this very promising new variety.”
During the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons, only Capespan and Colors Fruit Exports are permitted to export African Delight from South Africa. After that, this variety will be open to any Culdevco-registered export/marketing company.
African Rose is another new variety. The earliest plum of the season, it ripens about a week before Pioneer. “Not only does it ripen before Pioneer, it also has better colour development on the tree than Pioneer, which is significant in getting it to the market earlier with good colour,” said von Mollendorff.
African Rose was released in 2008 and there are already around 100ha of young plantings in South Africa. African Rose is open to all Culdevco-registered exporters and marketers.
Culdevco has also extended the African Pride series with a new cultivar, ARC PR-3. This late, yellow-skinned plum ripens a week before Angeleno and also has an excellent storage potential at single temperatures and high sugars.
Stefan Conradie, product manager for the South African stonefruit and top-fruit industry, said: “The introduction of the new plum varieties is succeeding in spreading the peaks of production and supply during the harvest, as well as filling gaps where there was previously very little supply.
“We also have a number of new nectarine varieties,” he added.
The major South African fruit promotion Beautiful Country, Beautiful Fruit will take place in the UK again this season. The campaign, backed by TV presenter Jasmine Harman, will include a range of activities in stores, including tastings and point-of-sale advertising, as well as competitions to win a holiday to South Africa and tickets to the 2010 football World Cup finals. This year, the campaign will cover not just stonefruit, but also top fruit and grapes
