Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Canned Deciduous Fruit Industry of South Africa
The climatic conditions in the Western Cape are characterized by temperate winters, dry warm summers, and winter rainfall. Temperatures in the winter months of June and July average between 45° and 55°f, resulting in fewer hours Of winter chilling of deciduous fruits than in California's commercial orchards and, for some deciduous varieties, problems with delayed foliation. Frosts are not much of a hazard to fruit production except in scattered low-lying or marginal areas. Rainfall, which is concentrated in the period April October, averages 25-35 inches annually in most districts.
Irrigation is essential for economic production, but the scarcity of water limits supplies available to farmers. Farmers Obtain irrigation water from their own reservoirs, mountain catchments, or wells or ally themselves in irrigation projects financed partially by the government, where water is allocated through irrigation boards. The provision for water is a key factor in the price of land in South Africa. Irrigated orchard land is high-priced, reportedly averaging between and per acre in 1969.
The government is currently in the process of building the Orange River Development Project, one Of the largest water-conservation projects of modern times. The planned dams along the Orange River, which ?ows through a semiarid region stretching over one-third of South Africa, will create vast storage lakes that will eventually provide water for the irrigation of over acres extending from Port Elizabeth on the Indian Ocean to Port Nolloth on the Atlantic side. This is expected to open up new land for fruit production. Weather conditions, however, are not as favorable to deciduous fruit production as in the Western Cape and the Langkloof. For the short term, at least, the potential for expanded acreage Of fruits for canning is limited to the latter two regions.
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