Region
Mpumalanga
South Africa

Sector
Agriculture & Agri-processing

Summary:

The Mpumalanga Province is a hugely important agricultural region of South Africa. The climate is varied and appropriate for a variety of crops. The province seeks to encourage investors to take advantage of opportunities in the province.

Contact
Mr Paresh Pandya

Email
paresh.pandya@mega.gov.za

Tel
+27 (0) 11 440 5757

Background

The Mpumalanga Province is one of South Africa’s most productive and important agricultural regions. The agricultural sector plays an important role in boosting the country's exports, especially in fruits and nuts. In 2010 the agricultural sector accounted for 3.4% of the Mpumalanga Province’s gross geographical product (GGP). The agriculture sector also contributes approximately 12% of employment in the Mpumalanga Province.

Introduction

The Mpumalanga Province has a varied topography, climate and soil varieties throughout its Highveld and Lowveld regions. This diversity ensures a rich and varied agricultural offering, both in commercial and subsistence agriculture.

The Highveld Region is cold in winter and has summer rainfalls. The Highveld Region stretches from Delmas to the beginning of the escarpment at Belfast.  In this region a wide variety of summer cereals, winter crops, oil-seeds and legumes are produced.

The Mpumalanga Lowveld has a tropical climate, which is prevalent from Belfast down to the boarder of Mozambique. The Lowveld Region serves as the fruit basket of the province and is a accounts for a siginificant share of the country's fruit farming. It is internationally known for its sugar production, as well as a variety of citrus and subtropical fruits.

Agriculture in the highveld region

Summer and winter cereals

The summer cereals that are grown in the Highveld region are maize and sorghum. The total production of these cereals is approximately 1 119 488 metric tons, and the total area cultivated is 304 030 hectares.

The winter cereal cultivated in the Highveld region is mostly wheat. Wheat only covers 13 266 hectors and its total production is approximately 52 979 metric tons.
 
Oil-seeds - The total area cultivated is 40 249 hectors and the total production of fodder crops is 53 391 metric tons.

Legumes - The total area cultivated is 15 194 hectors and the total production of crops is 21 143 metric tons.

Fodder Crops - The total area cultivated is 23 799 hectors and the total production of fodder crops is 70 666 metric tons.

Agriculture in the lowveld region

Sugar Cane - The tropical climatic conditions that exist in the Lowveld of the Mpumalanga Province make the province a major producer of sugar cane, which is ultimately converted into sugar. In recent years sugar cane has been cultivated on approximately 19 000 hectares of land producing 1.4 million tons of sugar.

Citrus - Most of the citrus in the Lowveld of the Mpumalanga Province is cultivated in the Malelane area. This region also emerges as the net exporter of citrus.

Subtropical fruit - In keeping with the tropical climate, the Lowveld Region sees the cultivation of a variety of subtropical fruit, important ones being bananas, mangos and avocados. The Province also sees the cultivation of litchis, guavas and pineapples to a limited volume.

Vegetables - A wide variety of vegetables such as potatoes, tomatoes, carrots and pumpkins are cultivated in the Mpumalanga Province. Mixed farming including potatoes, sweet potatoes and beans are mostly found in the southern and western parts of the province. Between them, the high-lying areas of Mpumalanga and the Free State account for 40% of South Africa’s potato production. Commercial forests occur along the province’s borders with Swaziland in the south and the Kruger National Park in the north-east.

Nuts - The Mpumalanga food basket is completed by the cultivation of macadamia and pecan nuts and this cultivation has grown over the last few years.  The current level of pecan nut production is just less than 0.5 million metric tons, while the production of macadamia nuts exceeds 3.8 million metric tons.

Export, trade and investment opportunities in Mpumalanga

The highveld region

The Highveld Region’s vast agriculture resources, in the form of summer and winter cereals, oil seeds and beans, and deciduous fruit provide both trade and investment opportunities. These opportunities lie in:

• Milling and processing of summer and winter cereals
• Extraction of edible oils
• Processing of:
  • Maize
  • Beans
  • deciduous fruit into juices, concentrate, jams and canned fruits

The lowveld region

The agriculture resources in the form of citrus, tropical and sub-tropical fruits and nuts in the Lowveld Region also provide trade and investment opportunities. The Far East and Europe make up the largest export destination for the Mpumalanga Province’s Lowveld region's products.

The following trade and investment opportunities are available in the lowveld region:

• Sugar refining,
• Processing of:
  o fruits into fruit juices and concentrates, jams, canning and drying 
  o vegetables into canning, freezing, drying
• Value adding to nuts
• Production of honey
• Processing fruits for input in pharmaceutical industry
• Essential oils from tropical, subtropical and citrus fruits
• Processing of tropical fruit with exotic recipes


For more information about trade and investment opportunities in the Mpumalanga Province, contatct:

Mr Paresh Pandya
Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency
Manager: Trade & Investment Promotion
Tel: +27 (0) 11 440 5757
Email: paresh.pandya@mega.gov.za
Website: www.mega.gov.za/