Some 200 kilometres north of Cape Town in South Africa’s Western Cape region one finds a plateau which is surrounded by the rugged mountain landscape of the Cedarberg range. This is the Koue Bokkeveld. Here the winters are cold, the summers hot and dry. There are rivers and dams which provide fresh mountain water - the recipe for growing the finest fruit and vegetables in the world.
Gysbertus du Toit settled at Kromfontein in the Koue Bokkeveld more than 110 years ago to lay the foundations for what is today South Africa’s leading fruit and vegetable producer, packer and marketer.
The first apples, which today forms the basis of the Dutoit business, where, however, only planted some 70 years ago. Since then estates with lovely names such as Paardekloof, Vastrap, Nooitgedacht, Lindeshof, Tandfontein, Waboomrivier and Sneeuwkop were added to the farming activities.
Below this plateau, in the Warm Bokkeveld, at Ceres, one finds the head qaurters of the Dutoit Group.
Ceres is also the base of the Group’s centralised fruit and vegetable packing and cooling facilities. Dutoit Fruit has sophisticated cooling facilities, three pack houses and distribution and marketing facilities at the town, while the vegetables are located at Dutoit Vegetables’ cooling and packing site at Prince Alfred’s Hamlet.
In the Warm and Koue Bokkeveld and the Cape’s Berg River and Sandveld regions, as well as some 600 kilometers to the east, in the well-known Langkloof Valley, the Dutoit Group now has some 4000 hectares and vegetables under irrigation. The Langkloof farms, consolidated under Southcape Produce, are located in unique and diverse climatic locations. It allows the Group to extend its unique offer to customers around the world.
In all, 175 000 tons are produced and marketed in local and global markets. This vast business offers peak season work to some 8800 people, providing a livelihood for more than 26 000 people.
Apples, pears, plums, nectarines and peaches are grown at both Ceres and in the Langkloof – cherries and vegetable production, onions, potatoes and traditional and new exotics lettuce varieties, are grown mainly in the Koue Bokkeveld.
