A few Sunday afternoon thoughts after pausing at the old man's memorial on Allesbeste.
Dr André Ernst's memorial site at Allesbeste, Tzaneeen with the Maluma tree planted in 2021.
Monwana?
It's quite common, to be honest, and one of my favourite habits is that South African farmers and their families quite quickly get a few Sepedi nicknames. These are often quite descriptive, some to the extent that if you don't speak Sepedi (or the local language in a region) you might be blissfully unaware, but some of these names are so fun.
My father always joked with kids giving them a fright when they picked their noses. He explained how he lost half his thumb while picking his nose.
The truth was however that being the inquisitive person he was, doing futile duties during his service days at the local Commando, he was a bit too inquisitive sorting the store room and doing stock take. Next thing Monwana pulled the pin from a detinator and in a story he told quite a lot you could realise the time he spent then trying to get the pin back in felt a lot longer than 3 seconds. He lost half a finger being just who he was, one of the avocado world's most inquisitive people. So he was dubbed Monwana which directly translated from Sepedi (Lobedu) means finger.
Fruit on his Maluma tree.
During my father's memorial service, we planted a Maluma tree on bounty rootstock. The tree was to commemorate and remind us of the contributions he made to developing avocado genetics and his absolute passion for Maluma. For the last two weeks driving past it on my way to my office, I started noticing more and more the immense amount of fruit on the tree - it was like a soft lingering voice that called me towards it. I stopped there a bit today. Just to have a look. I realised that this tree and its fruit will be much more significant to us than we expected.
As this tree sets its fruit for the new season, we are reminded that the current Maluma season is behind us. Another season to reflect on. More obvious the new season is here.
I remember the early days when I was in varsity and Maluma had its first few big arrivals in Europe. How my dad would hold his breath. At that time maybe 2-3 containers a season. The odds really were hit or miss. How he persevered with minds like Bram Snijder (and many others later on) to have successful arrivals. I remember the good times like yesterday. Almost like a little happy dance he did, knowing that there is more and more success to build on. He never quit. He always went back to the drawing board, whether times were good or bad. Yes. Good times are also pretty valuable to make notes from!
Looking at the tree today I realised that despite this amazing crop, and how wonderful Maluma is, people are still scared. Some are even convinced that Maluma is not worth the investment. This saddens me. We still hear those talks around us...often from people with no direct experience of Maluma. Why though?
I thought to myself well if I reflect on our season Maluma really did its job again! I smiled knowing the next season is on its way. So time to reflect on good and bad. Time to build for the next season. Yes even as deeply metaphorical as it could seem. We work forward with excitement with each lesson from the past, much of our value today lies in learning from the past, from what came before.
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2024 Maluma Season.
Over the next period we will be sharing more reviews from our season, not just Maluma, but for the whole of Allesbeste Marketing and some feedback from Avor.
In short ('cause this has been draging on to get to my real point) a few highlights of the 2024 season. Marketing window
The graphs on the left show quite well how Maluma now developed in the last decade into a full-season solution at Allesbeste. Not mereely being an early window option. This is mostly due to its beneficial size distribution. Many growers and exporters believe that the only solution is to ship Maluma in the early season when competition is low and quality risks are low.
There are however two very important factors this common statement disregards. The lack of vessels in the early season adds pressure on port congestion and port delays, and its effect on quality (for all cultivars). Also, competition is relative. Often it's not how over-supplied a market is, as how different segments in that market are responding. Maluma over the last 2 decades is finding its segment quite nicely.
Size distribution
Most products need to have their unique positions to compete. Unique Selling Points are those key differentiators from other products. Well in a season like 2024, what more do you want than the perfect size distribution? Yes, 2022 had its unique challenges, exactly what it was, unique challenges.
As farmers one of our most important ways to be sustainable in an ever-changing world is to identify and mitigate risks. These mitigations don't mean we always get it right. It suggests that one of the most important tools we have, or should have is a mix of products that supplies the different segments respecting the different needs of the market and understanding the volatility of the market (what my thick marketing textbooks called Marketing or product mixes). With Maluma supplementing Hass supply we mitigate size challenges and optimise with this marketing strategy on price per count differences. 2024 This really paid off.
Rand per Kilogram back on farm - ALL GRADES
Should I say more? These really do speak for themselves. Can't say how much better others might be doing with Hass or in isolated marketing windows, however taking into account that this is head-on marketing for our full extended marketing season. The price difference is quite significant. Not one that paints a picture of a cultivar in decline. This excites me to my core. It confirms that even in tough times Maluma is working for us. Contributing massively to our returns and sustainability.
We really hope that you are achieving similar results. If not, We would love to help. Not te steal your fruit. To sincerely care and help you in building a strategy that secures sustainability. We believe in this cultivar, not for any other reason than what it has done for our own sustainability. We are deeply passionate about what this cultivar adds to growers profits. and sustainability, not for our own sake but for theirs. We would love to share it with you. Do not hesitate to speak to us.
Take into account that Allesbeste's production today is *40% Maluma. We lead with our own conviction.
Let's hold off for now...
The whole season doesn't need to fit into one blog post. We'll delve into it in the next few months. Still, so much more to show. The income per ha comparisons, price per count differentiation and so much more to be excited about.
Back to Monwana...
Personally, what I love so much more about this photo is the fact that his Memorial and his very own Maluma tree look over one of our trellis blocks. One of the annual evaluations that we will tick off from a long list of reviews as we realise the annual progress of seasons with him and his Maluma. Looking toward the future much to be excited about. So much to value from his contributions. Now venturing into another new cultivar contribution we will learn from history and its lessons. Reminiscing about the countless times he told me not to reinvent the wheel. "Ek het dit al gedoen, moet nou nie my probeer verkeerd bewys nie" knowing how he actually got up every day trying to reinvent the wheel.
We are thankful for his contributions, knowing we need to be deeply honest with ourselves about our successes and failures. Learn from them and keep contributing.
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Thank you for pausing and reading about something we all love!
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