The South African butternut market is in a strong phase, bolstered by increasing export opportunities.
Johan Stassen, area manager for the greater Limpopo area (Northern region) at Enza Zaden and an open field crop specialist, says there are two new kids on the block: “Enza Zaden is launching two new hybrids into the South African market called Afriditta and Afrizeus [pictured right]."
"In our trials we found Afriditta and Afrizeus to deliver good sized butternut for early plantings (spring), in other words meeting the size requirements for retail. We have seen that these hybrids maintain their size better in summer, becoming larger but not much larger than 1,200g.”
“Retail has traditionally preferred 800 to 1,200 grams,” he notes, “but recently we have come across cases where small sizes (600 to 800 grams) were accepted.”
Moreover, the trials of the past eight years in all of South Africa’s main production areas (Komatipoort, Tom Burke, Brits, Vivo, various locations in the Western Cape) to screen hybrid crossings, showed Afriditta and Afrizeus to be seven to fourteen days earlier in production than the current standards.
Johan adds that one of the unique benefits of Afriditta and Afrizeus are their excellent fruit size and shape uniformity.
The Afriditta butternut hybrid, bred in and for South Africa (photos supplied by Enza Zaden)
These hybrids are not yet planted commercially anywhere else in the world and this is, he points out, what makes their introduction so significant: “Enza Zaden South Africa is taking the lead on butternut as we have the largest butternut market. Enza Zaden subsidiaries in smaller butternut markets in Southern Europe, for example, will most likely follow our lead. These varieties have been developed for South Africa, in South Africa.”
"Past trials showed very good results with yields matching those of the current market standards and at times even outperforming them in terms of yield.”
Enza Zaden genetics have been in South Africa for close to thirty years, distributed through third party distributors. Enza Zaden is mainly known among South African growers for its short day onions, open field and greenhouse sweet peppers and iceberg lettuce.
The local entity will this year celebrate three years since launching their marketing and sales subsidiary in 2017, serving Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique from the South African office. The company also has technical representation in Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Uganda through local distributors.
Enza Zaden continues to develop new butternut hybrids for the local market with even better performance. Johan notes that there is, amongst others, a need for resistance to mildew and viruses.
“We look forward to introducing more new hybrids in the coming years.”
For more information:
Enza Zaden
Tel: +27 12 023 0048
Email: [email protected]
https://www.enzazaden.com/za/