Waging war against Tuta absoluta in Pongola

The Pongola of today is far different to what it was in the 1980s. Back then, vegetable farms stretched to the horizon, supplying a wide variety of produce to the area’s markets. Gradually, however, producers began to replace their vegetable crops with sugar cane, as they found the latter far easier to manage.

Today, while sugar cane remains the predominant crop in Pongola, it in turn is under threat of replacement by macadamias.

Brothers Sakkie and André Terblanche have combined the old with the new: their farm, on the outskirts of town, has tomato and sugar cane fields, as well as recently planted macadamia orchards. For them, staying the course with vegetables made business sense, as Basaki Boerdery (Basaki) is one of only three tomato producers in the area, which ensures that they have a stable market.

Lately, however, they haven’t been able to keep up with demand, as tomato leaf miner () is threatening to destroy their livelihood.