Wildeklawer potatoes

Potato production began at the Wildeklawer farm on the banks of the Vaal River at Barkly-West in South Africa's Northern Cape Province in 1987.

Two potato species are grown at Wildeklawer - the Mondial and the Fabula. Both are marketed to wholesalers and retailers under the Wildeklawer brand and while both find their way into most South African housewives' shopping baskets for home preparation, the Fabula is also used for processing into fresh and frozen French fries or potato chips, and potato crisps.

Wildeklawer sources its seed potatoes from Western Free State seed growers, amongst South Africa's finest. The seed potatoes are kept in cold storage until three weeks before mechanical planting, between November and January.

Wildeklawer's good, fertile soil, the Northern Cape's healthy, dry climate and just the right irrigation and fertilisation ensure the production of potatoes of excellent quality. Mechanical harvesting, hand picking, washing and packing, and countrywide deliveries daily, takes place between April and July.

Louis de Kock applies "the Wildeklawer way" as much to his cultivation of potatoes as to onions, incorporating the best in science and technology with a range of human skills and experience. Potatoes and onions, he explains, are the ideal rotation crops, ensuring year-round utilisation of Wildklawer's soil, packhouse facilities and 1 000-strong workforce.

Looking ahead, Louis envisages Wildeklawer beginning to generate its own seed potato requirements and substantially increasing potato production volumes.