In South Africa, the area devoted to avocados has constantly increased over the past 5 years. During the last census, the areas increased further, exceeding 15,000 hectares.
SAAGA, the South African Avocado Growers Association, did a census of avocado acreage in the country and the total planted for 2021 was 15,439 hectares. SAAGA also indicated that the new plantations total about 800 hectares per year and that the average annual production over 5 years reaches 132,600 tons.
In South Africa, avocado production is present in 5 provinces: Limpopo with 8,651 hectares, Mpumalanga with 3,498 hectares, KwaZulu-Natal with 1,828 hectares, and finally Western Cape and Eastern Cape which together represent 6% of the total. national industry.
In 2021, South African avocado production totaled 135,742 tons, of which 60,494 tons were exported mainly to the EU and the United Kingdom. This year, climatic events have affected production and SAAGA forecasts a volume similar to that of 2021.