The idea of plant improvement started as early as 1945, when Dr S.J. du Plessis, then chief of Quarantine, stated that better quality plant material was needed for the deciduous fruit industry in order to meet profitability and marketing demands. It was evident tha,t for deciduous fruit growers to become more competitive, factors within plant material that limited production performance had to be eliminated. Those limiting factors refer to the presence of harmful pathogens such as viruses, as well as poor genetic material. The quality of nursery trees, mainly owing to the absence of set standards, left much to be desired.
As a first step, a programme based on visual selection of suitable plant material was instituted during the 1950's.
In 1964 the South African Plant Improvement Association (Plantas) was established, with Mr Danie Jacobs as Chairman. All interested parties in the country were joined together under this Association, thus laying the basis for the development of plant improvement schemes.
In 1969 the virological unit of the Plant Protection Research Institute was established and integrated with the Quarantine Station in Stellenbosch, thereby creating an important and essential tool in plant improvement. Up to this stage, although the industry was represented in the infrastructure, the Department of Agriculture was the main driving force in establishing a plant improvement system for the deciduous fruit industry.
However, in 1971 a delegation consisting of Messrs Alex van Niekerk, Albert Fullard, (both deciduous fruit growers), and Drrs Daan Strydom and Alex Heyns went abroad to make a study of various plant improvement schemes in order to design a system for South Africa.
It was in 1974 that the Deciduous, Canning and Dried Fruit Boards founded the South African Plant Improvement Organisation (SAPO) as a partnership agreement with equal representation and clear objectives of supplying improved plant material to the industry. The first chairman was Mr Alex van Niekerk, a table grape grower of the Hex River Valley. He was followed by Mr Jan Linde du Toit, who served on the SAPO board for 22 years, thirteen years of which as Chairman. At that stage the physical improvement of plant material was a governmental function, while SAPO was responsible for multiplication of the virus free propagation material received from Quarantine. Multiplication was carried out on Excelsior, a farm in the Koue Bokkeveld, bought in 1975 for its isolation, virgin soil and water. Excelsior was developed as a centralised propagation and multiplication unit, where all SAPO's foundation and mother blocks were accommodated.
The year 1976 was an important milestone for the young organisation. Not only was a contract concluded with Floyd Zaiger of Zaiger's Inc Genetics in California, to supply SAPO with newly bred stone fruit varieties, but the first super plant rootstock material, true to type and free of known viruses, was issued to nurserymen. 1976 also saw the promulgation of two acts regulating plant material, the Plant Improvement Act and the Plant Breeders' Rights Act.
Two years later the first super plant scion wood was issued and in 1979 nurseries supplied the first super plant trees to producers. Amongst those trees were plum, prune, apricot, pear and apple trees.
During the mid-eighties, due to frost damage on vines, as well as the outbreak of Xanthomonas on stone fruit, it was decided that SAPO should decentralise its multiplication activities and Excelsior was sold. This marked the end of the centralised system of plant improvement and supply. At the same time Government identified plant improvement as a function that should be privatised. Privatisation of plant improvement started with sharing true-to-type variety control with private agencies like SAPO.
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Fleurbaix, a farm situated on the outskirts of Stellenbosch was then bought in 1987 and all source plant material, as well as its headquarters, was moved to Fleurbaix. This ushered in a new period of decentralised multiplication and supply of plant material to nurseries. Foundation material was established on Fleurbaix, whilst motherblocks were established as economical production orchards and vineyards with co-operator producers. All phyto and true-to-type variety control, as well as selection of plant material, are still being done on a regular basis in these mother blocks. Although new varieties were imported from overseas during the eighties, new emphasis was put on this function during the late eighties and early nineties. This programme resulted in the commercialisation of many excellent varieties. |
Certification of plant material was privatised (1993) to the Deciduous Fruit Plant Improvement Board (today Plant SA), whilst SAPO took responsibility on behalf of the deciduous fruit industry for most of the plant improvement functions performed earlier by Government. However, the Government maintained an auditing function through various of its departments.
SAPO extended their services further by the establishment and maintenance of nucleus material on Fleurbaix (1995) under the chairmanship of Mr Pieter De Wet, a pome fruit farmer from Villiersdorp. Further new facilities for virus elimination (1997) was established and SAPO by this time commenced to establish more international contacts and sign contracts with breeders and developers around the world and still today acts as the plant improvement and distribution agent for many of them.
In 1999 SAPO became a Trust (IT278/99) and the name was changed to SAPO Trust with the five Producer Associations as beneficiaries and Mr Willie Geldenhuys, a retired businessman, as Trust Chairman. During 2000 the General Manager of SAPO resigned and Mr Geldenhuys became the first Executive Chairman of the Trust.
From 2003 onwards more new nucleus facilities were established on Fleurbaix. These nucleus facilities are the source plants of all imported varieties into South Africa. During 2004 SAPO, again appointed a General Manager and in 2005, Mr Peter Dall, a consultant and farmer from Villiersdorp, was elected as chairman of the Trust. At the same time SAPO Trust totally restructured and four Business Units, namely Management, Pathology and Registration, Production, and Product Development were established. Business Unit Managers were appointed to manage these units each with their own budgets. Financial and other administrative functions were outsourced. SAPO Trust also decided to establish their own foundation blocks in all the different climatic areas and started with a process to phase out their foundation blocks and nursery activities on Fleurbaix and to move these facilities elsewhere. Table grape foundation blocks were established in Wellington and Montagu, a high chill pome fruit unit/facility in Ceres and a stone fruit facility at Riviersonderend.
The year 2007 was also an important year for SAPO Trust. SAPO extended their business to a further fifth and sixth Business Unit namely Evaluation and Nursery. This foundation nursery was established on Tygerhoek Farm at Riviersonderend, Western Cape Province, on a 35 ha facility leased from the Western Cape Department of Agriculture. SAPO Trust also became ISO:9001:2000 certified with an international company, SAI Global from Australia.
During 2008 all SAPO’s foundation premises and laboratory were accredited with the same company. Four families were transferred to Riviersonderend and SAPO Trust established a new property based company, UPSTARS TRADE 22 PTY LTD. As part of SAPO’s transformation obligations four houses were built on Riviersonderend to give SAPO employees the benefit to become house owners in their own right. Currently further negotiations are in place to built a further six houses for employees in Klapmuts.
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