After much deliberation by the judges and hard work put in by both participants, Liberty Mutsvanga has been crowned as this year’s pruning champion, while Regan Bantom is the champion of the picking contest at the Felco’s annual citrus pruning and picking competition, held in Patensie on September 20.
According to Louis Liebenberg, Eastern Cape Felco representative, the pruning competition, which is the second citrus pruning competition in South Africa, was first held in Patensie in 2019.
After a two-year halt to the competition, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year Felco was finally able to host the competition again for farm workers in Gamtoos Valley, in Patensie.
“It was important for us to host this event to let the citrus agriculture workers know how important they are in the citrus circle and to give them recognition for what they do for us,” said Liebenberg.
Pruning process
As part of the pruning competition criteria, participants were required to ensure that the 10 trees they had to prune had sufficient light entering the trees by cutting the tree canopy at the top and at the sides.
In addition, they had to adhere to a specific tree shape and size, and they were meant to remove unwanted growth such as deadwood and damaged, broken and infected branches among other things.
Lastly, they were required to promote stem rejuvenation through the pruning process.
There were at least 16 pruners at this year’s event, but it was Mutsvanga’s outstanding pruning skills that put him in the lead for the R5 000 worth of prizes.
Mutsvanga, who prunes trees at New Heights , has been pruning trees since 2017.
“I like pruning trees because I am able to help the trees get the sunlight they need and produce good quality fruits,” said Mutsvanga.
He said since he had at least five years’ experience as a tree pruner, he had a lot of confidence during the pruning competition.
“While I was pruning the trees, I believed that I was going to win because I have been in this field for a long time,” said Mutsvanga.
When he was announced as the winner of the competition, he said he felt happy and was proud of the work he had done.
The runner-up in the pruning competition was Prince Gowera and Sabelo Ndzonono was in third place.
Picking process
As part of the picking competition, the participants were evaluated according to the long stems on the fruit, picking injuries to the fruit, handling of the fruits, personal hygiene, the volume and whether they followed picking instructions.
At least 36 pickers battled it out at the inaugural picking competition, but it was Bantom who came out victorious and was awarded R4 500 worth in prizes.
Bantom who has been picking citrus fruits for 10 years is currently employed at Nuwe Lande.
He said he enjoyed his job and working alongside his colleagues.
Bantom said he entered the competition since he had many years of experience picking fruit, but he was not entirely certain that he was going to win.
“This is the first time I have entered a fruit picking competition, but I tried my best to do what I could and I was very happy when I heard that I had won,” said Bantom.
Sibongile Mupofu was the runner-up in the picking competition, while Orbet Madhemeti was third.
As part of their eventful day, Felco also hosted a wood sawing competition.
In first place in the men’s category was Gerik Rautenbach and Leandadno Klaassen in second place while in the women’s category, Heather Blake was first and Yolande Senekal in second.
The sponsors for the event included, Nexus, Neo Cellphone Shop, Bayer, Hankey Citrus Packers, Donkin Financial Services, Moore, Spar Hankey, Crossway Farm Village, Grown4U, Allcut Power Products, Pabala Private Nature Reserve, Rikus Landboudienste, Megadyne, Terra Aqua Agencies, Kaap Agri, The Wright Cut, Vansan Water Technologies, Wagondrift Packing, Ripple Hill Hotel, Foodzone, Cosmocel, UPL, MBFi, Spar Patensie, Agri Flow, Kubota, Gebore, Koppert, Manzana Nules, River Bioscience, The Co-Op, Felco, Werkco Signs, Gamtoos Irrigation Board, Rolfes Agri, S-Team Engineering, Ooskaap Trekkers and Local is Lekker Pub and Restaurant.
