Many people who are not in the fresh produce sector understand what takes place when you visit a facility for staging, such as the one operated by Produce Hub in Alberton, Johannesburg in which farmers hand over products for either a complete valued-added service (including quality inspection and cooling, packaging as well as labeling, grading as well as crating) or a simple daily pick-and-cross-docking service prior to being sent out to the retail distribution centers.

Others, including Produce Hub’s Western Cape partner Star South import vegetables and fruits (currently predominantly kiwis and citrus to sell) that are packed in accordance with retail requirements.

“For farmers that are located about 500 to 600 km from the city, based on transport effectiveness and cost it is possible to utilize our services for delivery on a regular basis to customers who are retail,” says Colin Mussett Produce Hub’s managing director. “It helps them to deliver just-in time daily deliveries. A few products are delivered to us, then packed and placed in stores in less than two hours after the harvest.”

The stonefruit season is proving difficult

“We deal with a wide range of fruit mostly stonefruit and grapes throughout the summer. Stonefruit season is expected to last for an additional two or three weeks and will probably end around the middle of March.” Colin says, adding that the stonefruit season in our area is not without problems due to severe and unpredictable weather.

“Volumes have dropped on certain types and the season has ended sooner than previous seasons. This places a great deal of stress on both supply and prices. Plums and nectarines are expected to take a bit longer, while cling peaches will probably last until the close the month of March.”

Produce Hub also supplies programmed ranges of vegetables and fruits for retailers like Spar, Pick n Pay, Spar, Shoprite as and some other ad-hoc Fruit & Veg City deliveries.

“We’re extremely transparent about our operations,” Mussett maintains. “When we promote an item from a third-party like the grapes of Star South or Hex Grapes such as Hex Grapes, we do not sell grapes directly to them. We’d like to provide them with the peace of mind knowing that we’re not competing against the other companies.”

Their partners Ilima Farms have a farming operation located in Komatipoort in which they’ll procure winter produce (peppers brinjals, chillies, and butternuts) and bananas will enter production at the close of the season.

“The most important thing we’re seeing is the shift in retail that is aligned with the time the people are paid. And this is revealing that there’s an abundance of available disposable income. We’re witnessing these huge month-ends as well as spikes in SASSA (South Africa Social Security Authority] payments timings. This obviously impacts our planning and our production upstream, too. It is quite challenging to ensure that the majority of your quantity is currently squeezed into 7 or 9 days of retail trade.”

Winter time on vegetables is going to be fascinating

Mussett says that the chance for planting vegetables is greater than previously because of climate effects including hail and heat as well as the lack of capability to properly irrigate due to loadshedding, and not being capable of packing and cooling because of the loadshedding.

The factors mentioned above can have a significant impact on farmers’ decisions to plant crops or not. But also on the prices of vegetables in recent months.

“The alternative side of this issue is that prices have been soaring and if you’re capable of supplying high-quality products and sell it into a chain of retail stores or municipal market or to wholesale customers or a prepacker, you will get an extremely good profit.”

It is interesting to watch what transpires this winter.

“We’re already witnessing on KVIs key value items such as potatoes, that prices are holding because of an encroaching quantity. Onions are a different example which is also a large, moving line. So are tomatoes. The three items are likely to continue to be extremely expensive throughout the year. There is a lot of demand, but there is lower supply of the commodities.”

Less’sensitive products like fanciest lettuce or other specialty products will be fairly steady, Mussett remarks, due the higher income of its consumers.

“You’ll notice the biggest variations in onions, potatoes as well as tomatoes, peppers and it’s the reason I believe there’s going become a massive demand.”

The potato quality decreases when heated to extreme temperature

The whole thing depends on how various zones of cultivation react to the hot and humid rainy weather that South Africa has experienced over the past couple of weeks. “You’re now seeing an insufficient supply of quality potatoes. There’s plenty of potatoes available, however their quality has been abysmal in the last couple of weeks. It’s just a matter of the potato not thriving at the extreme heat.”

In general, the quality of fruit appears to be unaffected by the weather as it’s produced under shade nets. The harvest of open land commodities such as watermelon is affected as well by similar elements that impede the production of vegetables.

It is noted that many customers from the wider Southern African region have seen the value of placing orders through Produce Hub, instead of shopping at the huge municipal market located in Gauteng. Produce Hub procures and packages the goods for customers from Namibia, Zambia, Botswana, Eswatini and Mozambique, and also prepares export documents as well as truck load consolidation.

The number of clients who cross borders has increased as well as certain products – such as red apples and this year’s CA stocks – remain popular. For street vendors, smaller amounts mean that there are more selling per box.

The Produce Hub Academy

Everyone is a participant in the juggle routine that is executed at Produce Hub. They realized they had to consider their personal skills through learnership positions where they can combine paid studies in the field along with hands-on experience that leads to an award of proficiency and, most importantly the hiring of a new employee.

“Two years ago, the Produce Hub Academy started taking students,” explains Wilzaan Wium, group human resources manager. “It’s an extremely unique kind of enterprise that we operate but it’s a challenge to market posts because most people don’t understand what staging coordinators are. The courses begin in April and are which are funded through the Wholesale and Retail Sector Education and Training Authority (W&RSETA) in addition to our own. The course has even been offered to our employees who were unable to pursue their studies after school and recently we’ve been certified by AgriSETA too.”

For additional information, click here:

Wilzaan Wium

Produce Hub

Tel: +27 11 869 7244

Email: info@producehub.co.za

https://www.producehub.co.za/