Citrus Academy

Altogether 47 students who receive bursary funding from the Citrus Academy can now expand their skills and knowledge through visits to local and international workshops, after a R200 000 donation from the IDC. 

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The Citrus Postharvest Series went on the air on Monday, the 18th of May 2009 on Agriculture Today, broadcast at 05h20 every morning on SABC2. Segments are being broadcast every Monday and Tuesday. The series is being produced in collaboration with the CRI and AgriTV.

The series covers the entire citrus postharvest process, starting with background information on the citrus industry in South Africa, going on to address orchard practices immediately prior to harvest, to harvesting and transport to the packhouse, good packhouse practices and material requirements, and then on down the chain right into the harbour, cold storage and the ship. The intention is to rework the segments after they have been broadcast, and make them available on a set of DVDs towards the end of 2009.

Over the past year the Citrus Academy has been working on the development of a learning programme for citrus nursery workers. This project has now entered its implementation phase, with its launching at the Citrus Foundation Block in the Eastern Cape.

More than half of the Bursary Fund students who graduated at the end of 2008 were successfully absorbed into the citrus industry in various capacities. Of the 47 learners on the Bursary Fund in 2008, only two had subjects to repeat in 2009, which gives us an overall pass rate of 96%.