The main goal of South African Pecan Nut Producers' Association (SAPPA) is to create an environment that promotes sustainable pecan production in South Africa.
Technical information, technological advances and relevant research are communicated to South African Pecan Nut Producers' Association (SAPPA) members to ensure they are aware of production threats as well as interventions and trends that may help them improve overall production efficiency, whether it be by improving nut quality, yields or disease and pest management.
Besides this, the South African Pecan Nut Producers Association helps industry stakeholders make informed decisions through its involvement in the gathering and distribution of information relating to export standards, the registration of plant protection products and statistics regarding production and new plantings.
South African Pecan Nut Producers Association has been involved in the setting of export standards to ensure all the nuts exported from South Africa are of good quality as well as nursery standards to ensure farmers get access to plant material of an agreed minimum standard.
SAPPA also has a transformation focus, with at least 20% of statutory levies being spent on transformation.
Most of this funding is spent on providing plant material and other production inputs to black farmers, who want to farm with pecan nuts. Trial projects were launched near Upington and in the Vaalharts irrigation scheme, and are now being extended to all the production areas. Between 2014 and 2019 more than 9 000 trees were donated and planted as part of this project, supporting sixty black farmers.
South Africa is the third largest international producer of pecan nuts, but volumes are quite insignificant as the United States and Mexico,...