Agribulletin 140829

Augustus 2014

2

Augustus 2014

Piesangs wêreldwyd bedreig ‘n Vernietigende swam wat ‘n groot bedreiging vir die piesangbedryf wêreldwyd inhou, is vir die eerste keer in Afrika gewaar.

In die noorde van Mosambiek is die swam reeds in Desember verlede jaar ontdek en tot beperkte gebied geïsoleer. Dit is op ‘n kommersiële piesanguitvoerplantasie en kom net in sekere aanplantings op die plaas voor.

Die swam is bekend Kennisgewing as FocTR4. Dit versprei deur die grond en lei tot AgriLetaba se vergaderFusarium-verwelking of ing wat op 27 Augustus Panamasiekte wat dodelik gehou sou word, is vervir piesangplante is. Dit het skuif na 3 September op die skouterrein weens sy oorsprong in Asië, waar die provinsiale Agri Expo groot piesangplantasies wat dié week op die terreeds die afgelope twintig rein aangebied is. jaar daardeur uitgewis is.

Die swam kan vir dekades in die grond oorleef en is moeilik om uit te roei. Al wat gedoen kan word, is is ’n publikasie van om dit tot die gebied waar dit voorkom, te beperk.

Bulletin Streng maatreëls moet Uitgewer: Francois Aucamp editor@bulletin.us.com Redakteur: Louis Roux louis@bulletin.us.com Bemarking: Thinus van Deventer thinus@bulletin.us.com Jacques Smuts jacques@bulletin.us.com Uitleg en ontwerp: David Morrison david@bulletin.us.com Crownstraat 8, Tzaneen, 0850 015 307 7248 015 307 7684 www.bulletin.us.com Drukker/Printer: PaarlColdset

Laeveld Bulletin BK (Reg 2004/031396/23) is die uitgewer en verspreider van die Bulletin.

Lowveld Bulletin CC (Reg 2004/031396/23) is the publisher and distributor of Bulletin.

Copyright on advertisements, editorial material & photo’s reserved.

Kopiereg op advertensies, redaksionele inhoud & foto’s word voorbehou.

Your agri advertising solution providers Jacques Smuts 071 268 2543

jacques@bulletin.us.com

Thinus van Deventer 083 611 6292 thinus@bulletin.us.com

dan toegepas word, soos spoelbaddens vir voertuie en die beperking van beweging tussen die aangetasde gebied en die res van die omgewing. Geen vrugte uit so ‘n gebied mag versprei word nie.

Prof Altus Viljoen van Plantpatologie aan die Universiteit van Stellenbosch was deel van die ondersoekspan wat die swam in Mosambiek ondersoek het. Hy is ook deel van ‘n taakspan bestaande uit Mosambiek se departement van landbou, Matanuska, die internasionale instituut vir tropiese landbou (IITA), en Biodiversiteit Internasionaal wat moet toesien dat die swam nie verder versprei nie.

Viljoen is op die oomblik in die buiteland en sal in September met sy terugkeer volledig verslag doen oor die stand van sake in Mosambiek.

Die Verenigde Nasies se voedsel- en landbouorganisasie (FAO) het reeds in April vanjaar ernstige waarskuwings oor Panamasiekte uitgereik. Piesangs is die vierde belangrikste voedselgewas vir die wêreld se minder ontwikkelde lande en ‘n belangrike bron van inkomste vir arm boere.

Die swam beïnvloed die bome, maar nie die piesangs self nie. Die enigste bestrydingsmiddel is om die aangetasde piesangbome uit te kap en loopgrawe tussen die bome te grawe om die siekte te keer. ‘n Direkteur van die piesangnavorsingsprogram by die Wageningen Universiteit in Nederland, mnr Gert Kema, sê die beskikbaarheid van piesangs in Europa word nie deur die siekte geraak nie omdat die ekonomiese uitwerking daarvan hoofsaaklik op Asië gefokus het.

Hy sê daar is ‘n oormatige vertroue in die Cavendish-variëteit wat wêreldwyd geplant word, maar reeds vatbaar vir Panamasiekte begin word het.

Plaasvervangers moet verkry word, wat teen Panamasiekte bestand is.

Dit kan nog jare duur, maar daar is ‘n

Kompos-inisiatief val wéér plat...

risiko dat foute wat met die groot piesangepidemie in 1950 begaan is, herhaal kan word. Toe is Cavendish se voorganger, die variëteit Gros Michel (Big Mike), feitlik heeltemal in die VSA en Suid-Amerika deur die Panamaswam uitgewis.

Piesangfeite Meer as 100 miljard piesangs word jaarliks wêreldwyd verorber. Net 15% van alle piesangs wat verbou word, word uitgevoer na Europa en Amerika. Die Amerikaners is die grootste piesangeters en verorber 11,9 kg per persoon per jaar. Dit is meer as die verbruik van appels en lemoene saam.

Waar eens aanloklike rye smeulende kompos op die tuine van Tzaneen gelê en wag het, is daar nou net ‘n klomp onverwerkte stompe oor. Dis soos dit by die dorp se stortterrein lyk, waar die komposaanleg vir die soveelste keer doodgeloop het, met geen nuwe hoop in sig nie.

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Augustus 2014

Letaba Skou wys sy landboubaadjie Op landbouvlak was die Letaba Skou vanjaar beslis ‘n die beoordeling van beeste en bokke by te woon. Ver- baie selde gebeur.” groter sukses as in vorige jare, met uitstallers van land- skeie telers het ook bulle tydens die skou verkoop, wat Daar was ook ’n interprovinsiale jeugskou waartydens kinders wat vir die SA Kampioenskappe kwalifiboutoerusting wat hoogs in hul skik daarmee was, sê me Corrie Labuschagne, hooforganiseer, met hul diere kon meeding. Dit was ‘n groot trekpleister vir die skoolkinders en die publiek seerder en voorsitter van die skoukomitee.

Dit is ook die enigste skou in die land waar alle wat dit heeltyd op die rugbyveld gevolg het. interrasse in die beesteafdeling in twintig verWat die onttrekking van ‘n paar sleutelvertoners kort voor die skou betref, het Labuschagne gesê skillende skouklasse met mekaar meegeding het. By alle ander skoue is dit slegs die kampidit is hoegenaamd nie ‘n vreemde verskynsel nie.

Dit gebeur gereeld in laat stadiums van so ‘n groot oene wat met mekaar meeding.

Labuschagne sê die veranderde uitleg van die gebeurtenis en dit geld alle skoue in die land. skou is positief ontvang. Beestelers het die orAlles het rustig verloop, behalwe die laaste dag, ganiseerders gelukgewens en haar meegedeel toe ‘n klompie motorfietsryers volgens skougangers wou-wou amok maak. dat meer mense as voorheen met hulle kom ge“Nee wat, dit was maar net ‘n paar manne wat sels en navrae oor die diere gedoen het.

Beeste staan in twintig verskillende skouklasse om mee te ding in die “Boere het van so ver as Giyani, Polokwane en interraskompetisie. Letaba is die eerste skou wat die kompetisie op dié wyse hul groot speelgoed vir hul vriende kom vertoon Phalaborwa gekom, om die telers te besoek en het,” was Labuschagne se kommentaar. aangebied het.

Greening cripples US citrus industry The deadly bacterial disease citrus greening is not Greening has forced the Bartow-based Florida affecting America’s citrus farmers in Florida only, but also department of citrus and its governing citrus commission, has a devastating impact on the marketing side. to abandon TV ads for the first time in decades.

The Florida department of citrus is a 46-employee state agency, financed by a growers’ tax, whose job is to market Florida citrus products.

Orange juice is its biggest marketing effort.

Commercials have long been a big part of its budget, but greening has so ravaged the state’s citrus crops that the department could no longer afford the marketing side.

Behind that question lies the bigger issue of whether the department has any roll at all in the Florida industry’s struggle to survive through the greening era.

Colour inversion of fruit ripening - top to bottom.

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Augustus 2014

Jaggeweer vir die klein begroting

Die wapenvervaardiger Remington wat sedert 1816 gewere maak, het ‘n nuwe sakpas-geweer op die mark vir die jagter met ‘n minder groot begroting vir die jagseisoen.

Tot dusver was die Remington 700 die maatskappy se koning in die jagveld, maar hulle het nou ‘n ligter model, die 783, bekend gestel.

Die jagpublikasie Pot-Shot se skrywer Jacques Olivier het die 783 onlangs in ‘n skietoefening op die proef gestel en dit as ‘n aanvaarbare alternatief vir die 700 beskryf.

Volgens hom kom die wapen standaard uit met ‘n sintetiese kolf en dowwe swart afwerking op die metaalwerk. Dit is 107 cm lank en weeg 3,2 kg.

Dit werk, anders as die 700, met ‘n los magasyn vir vier patrone en een in die kamer. Dit het ‘n bykomende veiligheidsmaatreël wat eers teruggedruk moet word voor jy die sneller kan trek.

Olivier sê dis nie juis ‘n vertoonstuk nie, maar ‘n werkgeweer vir die jagter wat so twee keer per jag veld toe gaan en nie te veel wil bestee nie. Die prys is R8 930.

Nuwe geslag grysskilpampoene van Sakata Sakata het in die sestigerjare Crown Prince vrygestel, die eerste grysskilpampoen in die Suid-Afrikaanse mark.

Die markplek het gou ‘n voorkeur vir grysskilpampoene ontwikkel en dit was ’n groot sukses. Die verbruiker en die uitvoerders hou van die verbeterde smaak, tekstuur en houvermoë wat kenmerkend van Sakata se variëteite is.

Die afgelope drie jaar het Sakata sy nuwe geslag grysskilpampoene vrygestel: Nelson, ’n unieke bostipe met die gehalte en houvermoë, en Sampson, die ranktipe met ongelooflike opbrengste en gehalte — ’n moet vir elke pampoenprodusent wat trots is op sy produk.

Genetiese eienskappe wat die gehalte van grysskilpampoene bepaal, is:

Sampson - dit gaan oor opbrengskwaliteit

• Die Skil. Pampoene bly ‘n lewende entiteit nadat dit gepluk is en die proses van transpirasie deur die skil gaan steeds voort nadat dit gepluk is. As die skil ’n swak waslagie het, verloor die pampoen sy vog in ‘n relatiewe kort tydperk deur die stoma en word die raklewe en gehalte van die vrug hierdeur benadeel. Sampson en Nelson is geneties so saamgestel dat die Nelson — die bospampoen wat die nodige gehalte het skil ‘n sterk waslaag het en die variëteite kan, in die regte omstandighede, tot voorkeur aan hierdie variëteit, weens sy voorkoms ses maande opgeberg word. Dit is veral produsente wat opberg vir beter markpryse, verwerkers en gehalte. Sampson het verder ook intermediêre van pampoenprodukte en uitvoerders wat hierdie weerstandbiedendheid teen “Zucchini yellow mosaic virus”, “Watermelon mosaic virus” en “Papaya ringspot eienskap benut.

• Die gehalte van die vrug word ook bepaal deur die virus”. Dit het besondere groeikragtigheid wat hoër aantal blare op die rank tussen die vrugte. Energie wat in opbrengste en groter vrugte, wat vir maande opgeberg die blare deur die proses van fotosintese opgebou word, kan word, tot gevolg het. Hierdie eienskappe maak word na die vrug oorgeplaas, waar dit in die vorm van Sampson by uitstek geskik vir verbouing in die nastysel geberg word. Bostipes het minder blare per vrug, jaar (koeler seisoen) wanneer die grootste virusdruk minder energie is beskikbaar en vir hierdie rede beskik voorkom en die sterk groeiwyse het groter vrugte tot die vrugte nie oor dieselfde gehalte nie. Nelson is die gevolg. Gewigsklas: 5 tot 7 kg Nelson — Dié bos-grysskil variëteit is deur Sakata met nuutste ontwikkeling in die bostipes waar die kweker daarin geslaag het om die blaaroppervlakte te vergroot groot sukses vrygestel. Nelson kom uit dieselfde stal as Sampson, wat aan hierdie variëteit ‘n uitstekende — die gevolg is beter gehalte en opbergvermoë.

Sampson kom uit dieselfde kweekprogram as Crown vrugkwaliteit gee — tot nou toe is dit juis ‘n inherente Prince en kan inderdaad beskou word as ’n verbeterde probleem van die bostipes. Soos hierbo verduidelik Crown Prince. Uitvoerders en verwerkers verleen beskik Nelson oor ’n vergrote blaaroppervlakte wat aan dit die gehalte en opbergingsvermoë verleen.

Boere verkies bostipes weens die hoër plantestand en gevolglike hoër opbrengste. ’n Moet in enige pampoenprogram. Gewigsklas: 5 tot 6 kg Kontak gerus Leon Labuschagne by 083 585 1181.

Hy kan meer inligting gee oor die grysskil variëteite, en het die tegniese kennis om boere in staat te stel om die beste opbrengs en gehalte te verkry.

AFWYSENDE KLOUSULE: Hierdie inligting is op ons waarnemings en/of inligting vanaf ander bronne gebaseer. Aangesien gewasprestasie van die interaksie tussen die genetiese potensiaal van die saad, die fisiologiese eienskappe daarvan en die omgewing, bestuurspraktyke ingesluit, afhang, gee ons geen waarborg uitdruklik of deur implikasie, vir die prestasie van gewasse relatief tot die inligting gegee, nog aanvaar ons enige aanspreeklikheid vir enige verlies, direk of as gevolg daarvan, wat tewyte aan enige oorsaak ookal mag ontstaan. Lees eers asseblief Sakata Seed Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd se verkoopsvoorwaardes voordat saad bestel word.

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Augustus 2014

The Blyde Pipeline – lifeline to agriculture Have you ever wondered how the water gets from the Blyde Dam to the citrus, mango and vegetable farms in the Hoedspruit area? Of course the dam is there for anyone to see, but how is the water transported to Hoedspruit town and +/- 6 900 hectares of irrigated farmland? The answer: a 120 km long pipeline that starts near the base of the dam wall where it is connected to the two operational outlets of the dam. There are no pumps involved yet the farmer gets his water under pressure, even at the furthest point down the line.

This pipeline, which has six pressure control stations and contains more than 1 000 valves of different kinds and sizes ranging from a 15 mm diameter (dia) to 1 400 mm dia valve, was constructed over the course of five years from November 1998 to 2003. The pipeline has

Mr Jakkie Smith at the twin outlets from the Blyde Dam which connect to the Blyde pipeline.

237 off-takes (where the water comes out) that provide about 162 commercial farmers with water to irrigate their fields and orchards.

The pipeline was designed by a local civil engineer, Mr Jaco Swart, who says with a chuckle that at some stage he was the most wanted person in Hoedspruit, preferably dead not alive! Swart says the first ideas for the upgrading of the old Jonkmansspruit canal irrigation system were tossed around while sitting on straw bales at Louw van Vuren’s farm on 16 June 1987.

This eventually led to the inclusive consideration of the whole of the irrigation district over the next ten years. Altogether sixteen alternative projects were considered before the Irrigation Board came to a decision on 1 December 1997.

Even then the decision was made to build only a part of the pipeline system on the eastern side of the Blyde River. When asked why construction only started in 1998, Swart says “although the majority of the farmers realised the imminent water supply catastrophy, there

were a substantial number of opinion-shapers who bluntly refused to face reality”.’ In 1992 it was estimated by the department of agriculture that if the current situation continued, the Blyde River would have been depleted within twenty years.

So what did Hoedspruit farmers do for water before the pipeline was constructed? An earth-lined canal system was dug by the farmers themselves, which diverted water from the river (not the dam).

In most cases the water also had to be pumped, at high cost, to get it to the fields.

Although the canal system served its purpose for fifty to seventy years, it was extremely wasteful as only From the outlet at the Blyde Dam, the irrigation water flows about 35% of the water that flowed into the canal systhrough a 1 500 mm diameter steel pipe to four strainers. tem actually reached the intended destinations. The lieved to hear that the strangest things that are usually rest was lost due to evaporation and seepage.

According to Mr Jakkie Smith from MBB Consulting found in the strainers are only fish! From here the water Engineers who is responsible for the operations and goes through pressure control stations where the presmaintenance of the pipeline on behalf of the Blyde River sure is controlled by dedicated pre-set pressure control Water Utility Company, the dam overflows for a longer valves, and then onwards to the farms and Hoedspruit period of time since the pipeline became operational. town. All this data is shown on the telemetry Scada sysIndeed the 10% saving in water as a result of the pipe- tem (System control and data acquisition) in the control line allows for 800 more hectares to be irrigated. This room.

At the users’ off-take the pressure is once again conwater is distributed to the Moletele Communal Property trolled to the specific needs and limits of the individual Association and is known as the “Blyde 800”.

As farmers need to pay to have their water transport- user’s irrigation equipment. Through the same control ed to them, they have fine tuned their irrigation systems valve, the rate of flow is controlled to within the user’s to minimise the amount of water lost. “It is possible to allocation limit.

Thank you to Jansen van Vuren from the Lower Blyde irrigate 1,2 ha of mangoes with only 1 ha of water but with drip irrigation some farmers are achieving even River Water Users’ Association for organising the tour of the Blyde Pipeline. Many thanks also to Smith for patiently better results”, says Smith.

From the outlet at the Blyde Dam, the irrigation water explaining all the inns and outs, and terminology of the flows through a 1 500 mm diameter steel pipe to four pipeline. Sincere thanks to Swart for sharing information strainers (10 mm sieves) near Moholoholo Ya Mati. De- about the construction and early days of the Blyde Pipeline pending on the quality of the water, the strainers are project.

— LiN Media News/Kruger2Canyon flushed out every two to three months. We were re-

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6

Augustus 2014

Agri future lies in proper training Crucial role players in the preparation of young and upcoming people in agriculture are settled training providers to deliver the necessary skills in managing farm equipment.

Tractors, machines and other rolling stock are probably the biggest capital investment in the farming industry.

Keeping this part of farming in running order could save the producer a good deal of the annual expenses.

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Transvaal Training, who are celebrating their 20th year of existence this year as an accredited training provider, visited the Letsitele area recently to offer their services to the local community. They were guest speakers at the Constantia Citrus Study Group early in August.

The group specializes in the training of lifting machines, mobile plant and equipment (earthmoving and mining), advanced driver training, occupational health and safety, and safety skills. baie geluk met die groot prestasie van They are an accredited transport education and Jongboer van die Jaar! training authority (TETA) as well as a construction education and training authority (CETA) operating from Midrand.

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Government looks at GM (genetically modified) foods have to be labeled. It should only apply to living modified organisms.

With whole kernels or soya beans, they are saying that once you process them they are no longer organisms.

Swanby said around 80% of SA’s staple food, maize, was GM and so it made more sense for foodstuffs in the minority to be marked.

She said consumers didn’t know much about GM until recently. A couple of years ago they tested, among others, the baby food Purity with very high levels of GM. There was a massive outcry among people in the middle to upper class who fed their babies with this product and the company agreed to take GM out of the food.

The next year they tested a daily porridge that had very high levels of GM. There was no outcry because the higher classes do not eat that.

Russian embargo may affect citrus exports

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as a training provider known in the workplace through their value-added inputs, training and consulting services which will show an increase in productivity, better profitability and a safe working environment.

A new approach towards genetically modified food in SA can be expected, as the department of trade and industry is considering an amendment to current legislation related to the labeling of GM produce.

Campaigners say food manufacturers are taking advantage of current laws.

Currently in SA, produce containing five percent or more genetically modified organisms must be labeled as such, but the amendment would see the removal of the word “organisms” to prevent food manufacturers not labeling processed GM food.

An African Centre for Biosafety researcher, Ms Haidee Swanby, told the network freshfruitportal.com the food industry’s position was that once GM food had been processed, it no longer constituted an organism and did not

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The team of Transvaal Training at the Letsitele meeting were Mr Rainier Prinsloo (Agri specialist), Mr Pieter Pelser (branch manager), Ms Louren Hart (sales), Mr Johan Bouwer (director), Ms Marthie Kunneke (sales representative in Tzaneen) and Mr Steven Rademan (sales director).

New obstacles must be addressed by the citrus industry in South Africa in view of the Russian trade embargo in Europe, said Mr Justin Chadwick, CEO of the Citrus Growers Association (CGA) in Durban.

He said Russia may import more citrus in advance, to be sold at a time when consumers were used to the fruit being in season.

“Obviously there might be some interest in our products that they can’t source from other suppliers. Also they might be a bit concerned about the Northern Hemisphere season and so they might stock up on more Southern Hemisphere stocks as a result.

Russia is the biggest importing nation of SA citrus, receiving 12% of all shipments.

An indirect consequence of the ban for SA, however, is that the produce industry may have to find another route for shipments traveling to Russia, with key European hubs looking like they are no longer feasible options.

“The downside is that some of our products is routed through Europe to Russia, so that will possibly be affected by the ban as well. There will be some products shipping through the EU — probably Rotterdam in the Netherlands — which would normally be the route to Russia which might have a problem now,” Chadwick added.

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Augustus 2014

Inside a juice factory As Hoedspruit finds itself in the peak citrus harvesting season with Valencia oranges and grapefruit being picked, washed, polished and packed for export, you may wonder what happens to the fruit that is not quite good enough for export but still healthy and juicy.

“At this stage of the season, every twelve hours we process more than 300 tonnes of citrus that we buy from local pack houses”, said Lionel Stephens, the factory manager at Cape Fruit Processors in Hoedspruit, during a visit to see the plant.

The factory was cleverly built in a circle to ease the flow of traffic as trucks bearing fruit come in to drop off their load, and cold storage trucks pull in to load drums of juice concentrate.

The first stop when a truck laden with fruit comes to the factory is the weigh bridge, where the exact amount of fruit In peak season, Cape Fruit Processors’ factory in Hoedspruit being brought in is processes more than 300 tonnes determined. Here the load is also assigned of citrus per day.

a tracking number to enable 100% traceability of the processed product that leaves the factory. A sample is taken of each and every load to determine the quality of the fruit (pH level, sugar content, pulp content, the presence of microbiological agents, etc). From the offload point the fruit is transported into storage bins. It doesn’t stay there very long before moving on to a conveyor belt, where two workers remove fruit that is unfit for juicing.

The healthy, juicy fruit then moves over the scale before being washed. After the fruit has been washed it moves through an oil extractor. This machine pricks the fruit’s peel all over and removes the oil from the skin.

Everything up to this stage happens outside the factory.

The next step is the sizing machine inside the factory, where individual fruit get sorted according to their size and goes into three different lanes onto another conveyor belt.

Eleven juice extractor machines, each set to juice small, medium or large fruit, completely pulverise each fruit, skin and all, to extract the maximum amount of juice from it. The juice, containing pulp and skin, now moves through a juice finisher that takes out the pulp.

The juice is then pasteurised and concentrated through an evaporation process.

The twin towers that come into view when you go down the hill before the

The evaporation towers where the juice is pasteurised and concentrated.

Sandspruit River are the two evaporators where this process takes place. It takes about 24 hours from when the fruit is offloaded to when the juice (final product) is batched in big stainless steel tanks and filled into 200 litre drums, which go straight into cold storage where the product is kept at -18°C to -200C, ready to be sent out to clients in refrigerated trucks.

Remember the oil that was removed from the fruit’s skin? This oil goes through an oil polisher that separates the oil from the water. “Lemon oil is commonly used in a lot of cleaning products while all citrus oils can be used to enhance the flavour in the processed juice. Citrus essential oils are also used in skincare and aromatherapy products”, said Stephens.

Nothing is wasted — the pulp and peels Inside the lab on site, each batch of are used for compost and sometimes for juice is tested to determine the pH livestock and game feed as well. level, sugar content, pulp content, the presence of microbiological agents, etc.

— LiN Media News/Kruger2Canyon

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Augustus 2014

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