South African mango growers hope that the size of their Tommy Atkins mangoes will make up for what was not a very good pollination and fruit set, despite abundant flowering, possibly as a result of cooler temperatures over that period, says Pieter Buys, mango farmer and chairperson of the South African Mango Growers’ Association.
Then there was a heatwave over a month ago, which led to fruit drop, again especially among Tommy Atkins.
In South Africa’s main mango region of Hoedspruit, growers tell FreshPlaza that the Tommy Atkins crop could be down by between 15% and 20%.
Weather has been less bothersome to the later mango cultivars like Shelly, Kent and Keitt, and from those orchards a good average crop is expected, Pieter says. Growers observe that the Shelly crop currently looks better than last year, as do Kent and Keitt.
The overall crop will probably be 10% lower than last year’s crop, he says, which came to 3,230 tonnes of exports (excluding those that are taken cross-border along informal channels) out of a total of between 95,000 to 100,000 tonnes (mango processing is a large sector in South Africa alongside fresh sales). It is hoped that reduced volumes will support a firmer mango price this season.
There will be fewer Tommy Atkins, the first mangoes on the market, this year
Start of the mango season awaited with bated breath
Last week a retail buyer, visiting Mpumalanga mango orchards on the cusp of the new harvest, wrote on social media: “Litchis gifted us with a slightly earlier start to the season, whilst mangoes are still toying with us.”
Like last year, it looks like the mango harvest could kick off a week or so late in the early Onderberg, Komati and Malelane areas, while the Hoedspruit crop looks set to start as usual by late December or early January.
It was recently raining over large parts of northeastern South Africa as a result of a strong cut-off low, a good time for rain from the point of view of mango production.