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.”
黄色和红色的奇异果
南非在20世纪80年代开始生产猕猴桃，几乎与新西兰同时起步。如今，新西兰公司佳沛（Zespri）全年向市场供应猕猴桃，占全球销量的30%以上，而南非的猕猴桃生产直到四五年前才几乎停滞不前。
南非奇异果花粉公司（South Africa Kiwi Pollen）总经理彼得·特纳（Peter Turner）表示，奇异果在南非产量较低，并因难以种植而闻名。但当时人们对奇异果的生产知之甚少，传粉者的不匹配是导致产量低下的主要原因之一。
“农民们似乎无法理解，猕猴桃并不产生花蜜，而是依靠风而非蜜蜂进行授粉。实际上，果园所需的授粉活动范围远比当时人们所了解的要广泛得多，”他说道。
此外，最初引进的品种均为绿色，并不适合低温地区，因此其种植范围仅限于少数几个孤立地点。
如今，由于对这种作物的深入了解以及新品种（尤其是黄色品种）的引入，南非的水果生产潜力得到了大幅提升。这些新品种由于对低温的需求较低，极大地扩大了适合生产的区域。
特纳（Turner）表示：“在南非，有很好的机会用质量更好的本地猕猴桃来替代进口猕猴桃。”。
遗憾的是，南非消费者更偏爱绿色品种，而世界其他地区的消费者则更青睐黄色和红色的猕猴桃。
“南非消费者需要接触黄色和红色品种，以激发本地对这些品种的更大需求，因为它们的收益几乎是绿色（猕猴桃）的两倍。”
南非的优势在于，它是南半球最早的生产国，且地理位置优越，能够向欧盟、美国、非洲、大洋洲和中东地区供应产品。
新西兰和智利分别是仅次于意大利的第二大和第三大奇异果出口国。然而，由于难以与意大利和新西兰竞争，智利的生产面积自2015年以来已从11,000公顷减少至9,000公顷。
特纳（Turner）表示：“智利面临的一个主要问题是，它没有与质量相关的强大全球品牌。”。
2010年至2015年间，新西兰因猕猴桃细菌性溃疡病Pseudomonas syringae pv actinidia（一种破坏猕猴桃树的细菌性溃疡病）而损失了3800公顷猕猴桃种植园。南非未出现此病害，因此当地农民有机会出口猕猴桃花粉。
特纳（Turner）提醒道，猕猴桃的生产需要特定的气候条件：该地区必须无霜冻，冬季寒冷程度必须足够，且必须有充足的水分。猕猴桃所需的水分比苹果多30%，是柑橘所需水分的两倍。
建园成本约为每公顷70万兰特，具体取决于地形，而一旦果树进入盛果期，平均生产成本约为每公顷14.5万兰特。投资回报率为18%至20%，当果树长成四至五年时，农民即可实现盈亏平衡。南非的平均产量为每公顷35吨。
然而，特纳警告说，猕猴桃是一种难以适应且劳动密集型的作物。
“如果你习惯在十月度假，那么奇异果就不适合你。此外，南非的生产仍需大量微调。”
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