South Africa’s litchi harvest is expected to rise by 10 to 15% over last year, which was a light year.
“We’re expecting a good season,” says Bram Snijder, chairperson of the South Africa Litchi Growers Association. “The expectation is that we’ll export around 1.5 million 2kg cartons, of which around 10% will go to the United States.”
He notes that the early Chinese New Year is actually very favourable for the South African industry as a large portion of the fruit will arrive by sea in the two weeks before the event.
A few litchi growers in the Onderberg and Malelane areas have started harvesting early volumes of Early Delight and Third Months Red. Growers indicate that the harvest is a week to ten days earlier than usual.
Weather permitting (there is a cutoff low over the northern parts of South Africa bringing rain) the first Mauritius litchis could be selectively harvested by the end of next week.
By the end of next week most litchi growers in Malelane will have started their harvest. The Tzaneen area in Limpopo will start towards the end of November with small quantities.
In 2020 South Africa took off its second biggest litchi crop of 1.9 million cartons.
Heatwave impact
The heat wave that was experienced in the early part of September didn’t have a great impact on the crop, although some small volumes were lost due to the high temperatures during the female flower period.
Louise Wybrow of Makhundu Farm in Malelane, says that the heatwave affected their early cultivars like Early Delight the most, with fruit splitting.
"Mauritius, which drops fruit if it is not being irrigated properly, was safe – but not quite matured yet to actually see the effects of the heat fully," she says, adding that they're grateful for every litchi.
For more information:
Bram Snijder
SALGA
Tel: +27 15 307 3677
https://litchisa.co.za/