A delicate, yet versatile fruit, the fig has been known to mankind for millennia and is a hugely popular fruit in Turkey, which is the world’s biggest producer.
Fig farming in South Africa is mainly based in the dry warm regions of the Western Cape. Commercial farming started in the 1800s with dried figs and preserving figs as jams for home consumption to exporting fresh eating figs to the world market in the 2000s.
Figs are quite beneficial and contains dietary fibre, vitamin B6, magnesium, potassium, calcium, manganese and antioxidants. SouthAfrica.za highlights the production of figs, export and sales statistics, as well as fig products as uses of figs.
By Marinda Louw
Figs are well adapted to dry areas with high temperatures, and low water availability and have traditionally been cultivated in marginal soi...
The ‘eating fig’ is a popular fruit for eating fresh, as dried fruit or for use in jams, chutneys and desserts. It is produced in over 5...
Figs, one of the world’s oldest fruit, were planted in South Africa mainly for jam making and drying, but in the 2000s, fig cultivars suit...
Part of a genus of between 750 and 800 recorded species, the ‘eating fig’, Ficus carica, is unique. The rest of the genus are mostly tro...