Podcast: How to start a cactus pear farm in Mzansi

In this edition of Farmer’s Inside Track, we speak to Free State farmer Dewald van der Berg, who runs a mixed farming operation with his siblings on their Witkraal farm. Twelve years ago, they ventured into cactus pear farming, and he shares a guide for new and developing farmers.

According to van der Berg, cactus farming is inexpensive compared to other orchard farming. In the episode, he explains the costs in more detail.

“To establish the hectare, you need the plant material, some fertiliser and the labour. It’s also not capital-intensive,” he says. Of this, the main expense will be fertiliser and manual labour, he adds.

There are six commercially available cultivars, which are unique in their own right. Van der Berg unpacks these cultivars in the episode.

Best time to plant

When you are looking for the best time to plant cactus pear, start planting in the middle of August, he advises. You want to give the new leaves sufficient time to grow in order to be fully grown out by the time the next winter comes because they can be a bit sensitive to frost.

“With the summer rainfall area that we farm in and our cold winters, we prefer to start planting in the middle of August. We prune those cladodes that we plant in winter. The leaves can last quite a while, the best will be to prune in winter,” he says.

“I think when you go to areas where there is less frost, you can even plant a little bit later. I think good practice would be to plant during spring and early summer, that would be a good practice for most areas.”