Rain spoils date harvest in the South

THIS year’s date harvest at the Namibia Development Project (NDC) in the South has dropped by 60 per cent because of heavy rainfall in the Naute Dam area, says NDC Project Manager Mous Boshoff.

Boshoff yesterday told The Namibian that only 30 000 boxes of dates were produced for export in comparison to last year’s 38 000 boxes. “This year we had an average harvest,” Boshoff said.The NDC project produces the Medjool and Barhee date varieties on an 85-hectare date palm plantation at Naute Farm.Since 1998 the NDC has exported dates annually to European markets including France, Britain and Spain.The dates are harvested between February and March.According to Boshoff, the rain damaged the Barhee dates.This year only 8 000 boxes of Barhee dates were produced for export compared to last year’s 18 000, he said.The Medjool date crop was not affected, and 22 000 boxes were harvested, the same as last year.Boshoff said the NDC planned to expand the plantation in order to create more jobs.At present only 60 workers are employed there permanently while 151 are seasonal contract workers.”This year we had an average harvest,” Boshoff said.The NDC project produces the Medjool and Barhee date varieties on an 85-hectare date palm plantation at Naute Farm.Since 1998 the NDC has exported dates annually to European markets including France, Britain and Spain. The dates are harvested between February and March.According to Boshoff, the rain damaged the Barhee dates.This year only 8 000 boxes of Barhee dates were produced for export compared to last year’s 18 000, he said.The Medjool date crop was not affected, and 22 000 boxes were harvested, the same as last year.Boshoff said the NDC planned to expand the plantation in order to create more jobs.At present only 60 workers are employed there permanently while 151 are seasonal contract workers.