BETKO NEWS

BETKO FRESH PRODUCE OFFERS THE HIGHEST QUALITY FRUIT

Memories of Japie Groenewald as family mourns a great man

26 February 2010

Japie Groenewald, founder of the fruit packing and exporting concern, Betko Fresh Produce, who died after a motor vehicle accident near Elgin in the Cape region, was a true entrepreneur.

Japie Groenewald not only founded a thriving fruit packing and marketing business, he also established a great fruit growing business.

Two family farms, Oubos and Sunnyside 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 more than 20 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 to 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.

Elsewhere, at Villiersdorp, Japie Groenewald has also created his own legacy in the form of a people’s business, with more than 400  permanent work opportunities being provided to the local community. In season additional staff is employed, bringing total employment to more than 550 people.

Betko’s investment in people is also demonstrated by the financial investment in a housing complex where the company built 35 homes for its workers.

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