Cultivation, production and sale of subtropical fruit In South Africa

The cultivation of some types of subtropical fruit is only possible in certain specific areas of the country because of particular climatic requirements. In general, subtropical fruit types require warmer conditions and are sensitive to large temperature fluctuations and to frost. The main production areas in South Africa are parts of the Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal provinces. Fruit types such as granadillas and guavas are also grown in the Western Cape, while pineapples are cultivated in the Eastern Cape and Kwa-Zulu-Natal.
The total production areas of avocados, bananas, mangoes, litchis and pineapples during 2005/06 was at approximately 12.000, 11.568, 7.748, 3.000 and 13.581 ha, respectively.
The total production of subtropical fruit increased by 1,5 %, from 709.815 tons in 2004/05 to 720.648 tons in 2005/06. The production of bananas and litchis increased by 15,8 and 4,2 %, respectively.
However, the production of mangoes, granadillas, papayas and avocados decreased by 31,6, 26,7, 14,2 and 9,1 %, respectively. The warm winter climate, drought conditions in certain production areas and the previous season's good crop had an incredibly negative impact on the total mango crop. Bananas, pineapples and avocados contributed 50,9, 23,2 and 10,4 %, respectively, to the total production of subtropical fruit during 2005/06.
During 2005/06, the largest contributors to sales of subtropical fruit on the major fresh produce domestic markets were bananas (73,7 %), pineapples (8,7 %), avocados (6,9 %), mangoes (5,4 %) and papayas (3,6 %).
Except for bananas and litchis, the quantities of all subtropical fruit types sold on the major fresh produce domestic markets decreased during 2005/06.