BETKO NEWS

BETKO FRESH PRODUCE OFFERS THE HIGHEST QUALITY FRUIT

Oubos and Sunnyside is a tribute to to the entrepreneurial spirit to the Groenewald Family

02 February 2008

Two leading fruit farms located along the Sonderend River (‘River without End’) below the Riviersonderend Mountains in the Western Cape form the core of Betko’s apple and pear production. The two farms belong to the Japie Groenewald Trust and contribute 26% of all the fruit packed at Betko’s modern cold storage and packing facilities at Villiersdorp.

OUBOS, near the town of Riviersonderend, is the jewel of the Groenewald family’s fruit farming activities. It is the birth place of Japie Groenewald, who 16 years ago acquired sole ownership of the farm where previously eighteen families made a living from indigenous timber and vegetable farming.

Japie started selling fruit as a hawker at a very young age and left the family farm to pursue his business. However, it was always his ambition to one day return to the family farm and to develop it into a model fruit farm.

In 1990 Japie set about buying out the remaining land owners at Oubos and once this was done, he planted 120 hectares of deciduous fruit on the farm in a matter of four years between 1991 and 1995. Because this was to be a model form, the correct planning was most important. Soil samples were taken, topography studies done and variety and rootstock selections were made. Dams were built and, because servitudes on the main stream through Oubos precluded Japie from damming that stream, every other available source of water had to be utilized to have sufficient water for the young trees.

Japie was very keen to preserve the natural vegetation and not one of the indigenous forests were damaged or removed during the development phase. They are still as pristine and as beautiful as before. Even the oak trees where each family had their little 'opstal' (home) were preserved and none of the original oak trees were removed.

Today the 118 hectares of orchards produce about 18000 bins annually of some of the finest eating fruit in the world. The unique and special micro climate at Oubos contributes to this fine eating experience.

One wonders what "Oom" Koos, Japie's father would have said if he could have seen Oubos today, every year bringing forth its rich harvest of bountiful, magnificent crops. At Oubos, on top of one of the oak trees, a tractor can be seen. Legend has it that Oom Koos one day got so frustrated with the tractor that would not start that he took the block and tackle and hauled it into the top of the tree for it to stay there as a memorial of the tough times that the Groenewald family had on the farm.

SUNNYSIDE lies closer Villiersdorp, down stream from the massive Theewaterskloof Dam which covers so much of the Villiersdorp/Vyeboom region. The principles of fruit farming at Sunnyside are exactly the same as at Oubos, and the farm now has 180 hectares of apples and 70 hectares of pears.

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