Eastern Cape is largest citrus producer

ED RICHARDSON THE EASTERN Cape is the largest citrus producing region in South Africa. According to the CGA Annual Report for 2005, most of the country’s citrus fruit is grown in the Eastern Cape Midlands, Sundays River Valley and Patensie. The Eastern Cape is also responsible for cultivating navel oranges, lemons and mandarins, which are important to the local economy. They earned a total gross income of R384 million in 2002, according to Stats SA. This was mainly for farms in Kirkwood (R220,2 million); Hankey (R86.6 million) and Fort Beaufort (R35 million). Deciduous fruit brings R180.8 million to the province, mainly for Joubertina (R148.4 million); Humansdorp (R14 million) and Aberdeen (R7.8 million). Subtropical fruit bore an income of R45.5 million for the province, mainly for Bathurst (R25.9 million); East London (R7.5 million) and Albany (R4.8 million).