Wian Mouton, Fall Creek Business Manager for South Africa, has been speaking about the current status of blueberry cultivation in the various localities of South Africa. In his talk, he presented figures and elements that suggest that this African area could become a new development nexus for the global blueberry industry, as Latin America was in the last decade.
Source: Freshplaza.com
The expert provided much information on a country that produced 15.000 tons last season, growing by more than 40% compared to the previous season and maintaining a stable upward trend in recent years. Also, according to his data, this is set to continue in the coming seasons.
Since 1992, when the first fruit export was made to Zambia, for a value of 9,000 rand (USD 520), it jumped to 5 million rand (USD 288,000) in exports in 2001. After this, it entered in the virtuous period for the South African blueberry industry, exporting 1,1 trillion rand (USD 59 million) in 2019, which implies that it has not only grown in planted area, production, or efficiency, but also achieving important economic returns.
According to an article on blueberriesconsulting.com¸ Mouton relates that the countries that are producing blueberries in the south of the African continent are Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Kenya, there are also projects in Botswana, Angola, Mozambique and others that have the potential to produce. There are many investors interested in implementing blueberry growing projects and they are investigating the opportunities in these countries.