Contracting arrangements in agribusiness procurement practices in South Africa

This paper presents an overview of contracting arrangements in agribusiness procurement practices in South Africa. The objective of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of the structures and issues of raw commodity procurement in South African agribusiness supply chains. The results suggest that a wide range of institutions are employed to procure raw commodities for the South African agro-processing sector and that companies are increasingly moving away from the open market as a source of supply for raw commodities, and are utilising contractual arrangements instead. According to the main findings, 78.5% of the total volume of fruit and vegetables procured by agribusiness companies for processing is based on some form of contracting arrangement. The balance is procured through a combination of the open market, own estates, agents and imports. It is only in the case of potatoes, onions, beans and peanuts that a stronger reliance on the spot market is evident. South African retailers source 70% to 100% of their fresh produce directly from farmers (usually through growing programmes). The procurement of meat, poultry and eggs appears to favour vertical integration (and in some cases own production), medium- to long-term contracts and long-term ‛informal’ supply arrangements with selected groups of farmers

Peach, nectarine and plum growing possibilities under subtropical conditions of Turkey and North Cyprus

Peach, nectarine and plum growing possibilities under subtropical conditions of North Cyprus was compared with Adana/Turkey. Gransun was found to be the earliest flowering cultivar among peaches and nectarines both in Adana and Türkmenköy. In Adana, Francoise ripened earlier than the others and was followed by Maycrest and Early Maycrest. However, Gransun was also the earliest harvesting cultivar in Türkmenköy and followed by Early Maycrest, Francoise, Armking and the others. Generally the earliest cultivars, such as Gransun, Early Maycrest and Armking ripen 13, 8, and 4 days earlier in Türkmenköy than in Adana, respectively. However, Francoise and Maycrest ripen 14 and 12 days earlier in Adana than Türkmenköy. In both places, Romestar peach cultivar was the latest, thus it was not recommended to both places because of the Mediterranean fruit fly damage. Peaches and nectarines set fruit in the first year of planting, while the plums were in the second year. Armking, Superred, Maycrest, Gransun and Springcrest were the highest yielding cultivars in both places. The biggest fruits obtained from Maycrest, Early Maycrest, Francoise, Springcrest, Romestar, Silver of Rome, Silver Splendid and Silverking in both places with some changes in different years. Among the plums, Bella di Barbiano, Black Amber, Fortune and Bluefre were found to be the earliest ones for blooming characteristics. Harvesting times of plums in Türkmenköy and Adana were quite different from each other, however generally, Bella di Barbiano, Sorriso di Primavera, Fortune, Black Giant, Black Beaut and Black Amber were the earliest in both places. Considering the one year's results in plum, Sorriso di Primavera, T.C. Sun, Papaz, Black Giant and Golden Plumza seemed to be the best yielding plum cultivars. T.C. Sun, and Golden Plumza gave more than 80 g of fruit weight in Türkmenköy. Bella di Barbiano, Black Amber, Queen Rose and T.C. Sun gave fruits more than 74 g in Adana. These cultivars seemed to be promising cultivars for the peach, nectarine and plum production under subtropical conditions