Cultipowered is ensuring that South Africa’s latest deciduous fruit cultivars reach every producer, especially emerging black farmers. By reinvesting royalty profits in innovation, infrastructure, and training, they’re building a more resilient, inclusive agricultural sector.
Today’s deciduous fruit farming needs more than new cultivars; it demands pathways that connect research to support all producers. Dr Konanani Liphadzi, chair of Cultipowered, drives this shift while advancing sector-wide agricultural innovation.
Cultipowered builds on these gains by reinvesting returns to uplift emerging farmers. They open doors to new varieties, boost rural infrastructure, and train tomorrow’s growers and managers.
Liphadzi describes the organisation’s mission as extending access to innovation and ensuring technology and research benefits reach historically disadvantaged farmers.
“We support a whole range of initiatives ensuring black farmers have access to the latest cultivars bred by the ARC,” she says.
With a 51% stake in Culdevco, Cultipowered reinvests cultivar royalty profits in projects that empower new-era producers, strengthen rural infrastructure, and provide bursaries.
This approach fosters close partnerships with transformation managers and industry stakeholders for fair participation. Their capacity-building programmes support current farmers while growing the next generation of talent in South African agriculture.
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Driving transformation together
This effort thrives through seamless collaboration across the deciduous fruit industry, fuelling sustainable progress.
Cultipowered also funds basic access to cultivars for new orchards or tree replacements. “If there is an orchard that needs to be replanted with the latest variety that is more adaptable or more productive, we are able to fund it,” Liphadzi explains.
That same support reaches established orchards, where Cultipowered funds solutions, such as a solar installation for a farm that was faced with unreliable power cuts. This ensured steady irrigation during load shedding to protect yields.
These efforts already deliver real benefits to farmers today. Looking ahead, Liphadzi says they plan to keep pushing for new cultivars to enter the market, improve access for black farmers, boost their productivity, and strengthen their competitiveness.
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