Yellow and red kiwis
South Africa started producing kiwi fruit in the 1980s, almost at the same time as New Zealand. Today, New Zealand company Zespri supplies the market year-round and accounts for over 30% of global sales, while South African production almost came to a standstill until four or five years ago.
Peter Turner, managing director of South Africa Kiwi Pollen, says that the fruit produced low yields in this country and gained a reputation for being a ‘difficult’ crop. But very little was known about kiwi production at the time, with a mismatch of pollinators being one of the main reasons for low yields.
“Farmers couldn’t seem to grasp that kiwis didn’t produce any nectar and depended on wind, not bees, for pollination. In effect, orchards required a much wider range of pollination activities than was understood at the time,” he says.
Furthermore, the initial imported varieties, which were all green, were unsuited to low-chill areas, limiting their production to a few isolated spots.
South Africa’s production potential for the fruit is far better today, thanks to a greater understanding of the crop and the introduction of new (particularly yellow) varieties, which are greatly expanding the area suited to production due to their lower chill requirements.
“In South Africa, there’s a good opportunity to replace imported kiwis with better-quality, locally produced kiwis,” says Turner.
Unfortunately, South African consumers prefer green varieties, while the rest of the world favours yellow and red kiwis.
“South African consumers need to be exposed to the yellow and red varieties in order to create a greater local demand for them, as returns for them are almost double that of the green [kiwis].”
South Africa has the advantage of being the earliest producer in the Southern Hemisphere, and is well positioned to supply the EU, the US, Africa, Oceania and the Middle East.
New Zealand and Chile are the second- and third-biggest kiwi exporters respectively after Italy. However, Chile’s area under production has declined since 2015 from 11 000ha to 9 000ha due to its struggle to compete with Italy and New Zealand.
“A major problem for Chile is that it doesn’t have strong global brands associated with quality,” says Turner.
New Zealand lost 3 800ha between 2010 and 2015 because of Pseudomonas syringae pv actinidia, a bacterial canker that destroys the trees. The disease is not present in South Africa, which affords local farmers the opportunity to export kiwi pollen.
Turner cautions that kiwi production requires specific climatic conditions: the area must be frost-free, winter chilling must be at a sufficient level, and there must be enough water. Kiwi fruit requires 30% more water than apples, and double that of citrus.
Establishment costs are about R700 000/ha, depending on the terrain, with production costs averaging around R145 000/ha once the trees are in full bearing. The return on investment is 18% to 20%, with farmers breaking even when the trees are four to five years old. South African production averages 35t/ha.
Turner warns, however, that kiwi fruit is an unforgiving and labour-intensive crop.
“Kiwis are not for you if you’re used to taking holidays in October. Moreover, production in South Africa still needs a lot of fine-tuning.”
黃色和紅色的奇異果
南非在20世紀(jì)80年代開始生產(chǎn)獼猴桃，幾乎與新西蘭同時起步。如今，新西蘭公司佳沛（Zespri）全年向市場供應(yīng)獼猴桃，占全球銷量的30%以上，而南非的獼猴桃生產(chǎn)直到四五年前才幾乎停滯不前。
南非奇異果花粉公司（South Africa Kiwi Pollen）總經(jīng)理彼得·特納（Peter Turner）表示，奇異果在南非產(chǎn)量較低，并因難以種植而聞名。但當(dāng)時人們對奇異果的生產(chǎn)知之甚少，傳粉者的不匹配是導(dǎo)致產(chǎn)量低下的主要原因之一。
“農(nóng)民們似乎無法理解，獼猴桃并不產(chǎn)生花蜜，而是依靠風(fēng)而非蜜蜂進行授粉。實際上，果園所需的授粉活動范圍遠(yuǎn)比當(dāng)時人們所了解的要廣泛得多，”他說道。
此外，最初引進的品種均為綠色，并不適合低溫地區(qū)，因此其種植范圍僅限于少數(shù)幾個孤立地點。
如今，由于對這種作物的深入了解以及新品種（尤其是黃色品種）的引入，南非的水果生產(chǎn)潛力得到了大幅提升。這些新品種由于對低溫的需求較低，極大地擴大了適合生產(chǎn)的區(qū)域。
特納（Turner）表示：“在南非，有很好的機會用質(zhì)量更好的本地獼猴桃來替代進口獼猴桃?！?。
遺憾的是，南非消費者更偏愛綠色品種，而世界其他地區(qū)的消費者則更青睞黃色和紅色的獼猴桃。
“南非消費者需要接觸黃色和紅色品種，以激發(fā)本地對這些品種的更大需求，因為它們的收益幾乎是綠色（獼猴桃）的兩倍?！?br />
南非的優(yōu)勢在于，它是南半球最早的生產(chǎn)國，且地理位置優(yōu)越，能夠向歐盟、美國、非洲、大洋洲和中東地區(qū)供應(yīng)產(chǎn)品。
新西蘭和智利分別是僅次于意大利的第二大和第三大奇異果出口國。然而，由于難以與意大利和新西蘭競爭，智利的生產(chǎn)面積自2015年以來已從11,000公頃減少至9,000公頃。
特納（Turner）表示：“智利面臨的一個主要問題是，它沒有與質(zhì)量相關(guān)的強大全球品牌?！?。
2010年至2015年間，新西蘭因獼猴桃細(xì)菌性潰瘍病Pseudomonas syringae pv actinidia（一種破壞獼猴桃樹的細(xì)菌性潰瘍?。┒鴵p失了3800公頃獼猴桃種植園。南非未出現(xiàn)此病害，因此當(dāng)?shù)剞r(nóng)民有機會出口獼猴桃花粉。
特納（Turner）提醒道，獼猴桃的生產(chǎn)需要特定的氣候條件：該地區(qū)必須無霜凍，冬季寒冷程度必須足夠，且必須有充足的水分。獼猴桃所需的水分比蘋果多30%，是柑橘所需水分的兩倍。
建園成本約為每公頃70萬蘭特，具體取決于地形，而一旦果樹進入盛果期，平均生產(chǎn)成本約為每公頃14.5萬蘭特。投資回報率為18%至20%，當(dāng)果樹長成四至五年時，農(nóng)民即可實現(xiàn)盈虧平衡。南非的平均產(chǎn)量為每公頃35噸。
然而，特納警告說，獼猴桃是一種難以適應(yīng)且勞動密集型的作物。
“如果你習(xí)慣在十月度假，那么奇異果就不適合你。此外，南非的生產(chǎn)仍需大量微調(diào)?！?/p>
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