Tips to Become a more Sustainable Fruit Grower

Nitasha Baijnath-Pillay, Hortgro Resource and Sustainability Manager, shares some tips for growers on how to develop a sustainable perspective on their farms.

Having a long-term perspective: Long-term planning, continuous innovation, and sufficient investment in research and development, adopting new technologies and best practices, promoting knowledge sharing, and capacity building.

Circularity: adopting systems of production, processing and packaging that aim to create a closed-loop cycle, where waste and by-products are minimised, reused, or recycled back into the agricultural process (i.e. reducing reliance on non-renewable resources and minimising your environmental footprint).

Climate resilience: adopting climate-smart agricultural practices, improved water management and sustainable land use.

Economic resilience: adopting more efficient production methods, diversifying income streams, value-added products, and accessing markets that value sustainable production.

Environmental conservation: adopting practices that protect and enhance natural resources, including soil, water, air and biodiversity.

Regulatory compliance and certification: Complying with relevant regulations and standards like the SIZA social and environmental standards

Social responsibility: fostering healthy communities to the greatest extent possible and adding value to all our community stakeholder groups.