Maribelle, a slightly sweet, aromatic, green-yellow apple with a pink blush, has been identified as the most lucrative apple in Europe for the past five years.
Jan van Ingen, general manager of Treequattro, the Dutch company that owns the variety, says that the Kanzi apple currently achieves the highest price per kilogram, but Maribelle generates a better return per hectare thanks to its high yields and the low percentage of fruit diverted to the juice market.
“European apple production in general averages between 50t/ha and 60t/ha, whereas Maribelle production averages around 80t/ha to 85t/ha, with some French farmers achieving yields of up to 100t/ha. And less than 2% of Maribelle apples end up being juiced, in comparison with up to 15% of the other varieties,” he says.
Danie Heyns, a plant-certifying technician at the South African Plant Improvement Organisation Trust, says higher packouts of Maribelle would greatly benefit South African producers, as a much higher percentage of apples end up as juice in South Africa on average than in Europe, primarily because sunburn is a greater problem here.
Lower input costs
Van Ingen attributes the high packouts to Maribelle being a non-oxidative variety, meaning the flesh of these apples does not discolour but stays white after being sliced. The variety, in effect, is ideal for value-adding through use in fruit salads or as wedges. “McDonald’s uses Maribelle in its salads and is one of our biggest clients,” he says.
The variety is relatively easy to grow and requires low inputs. “Maribelle forms part of Treequatro’s objective to supply farmers with varieties that will allow them to stay in business when various pesticides and chemicals are phased out of production by 2028 because of the European Green Deal,” Van Ingen says.
The variety is unaffected by russet, a disorder that results in discolouration and changes to the skin texture, and is relatively tolerant to fungal diseases such as scab, mildew and apple canker.
Maribelle is also a vigorous grower, allowing nurseries to supply farmers with trees that have a good set of strong branches and the ability to fill the whole growing area in two to three years.
Van Ingen, nevertheless, warns farmers against pushing the trees too hard in the first two years after planting as this would leave them with too few reserves to develop their full potential and might end up destroying the trees.
Production
In Europe, Maribelle is primarily produced on dwarfing rootstocks because of the excellent quality of soils there. Heyns points out that farmers might have to use more vigorous rootstocks in South Africa as the soil is less fertile.
The trees are grown in a SolAxe system – with ‘sol’ standing for sunlight and ‘axis’ for the central leader or trunk – at a maximum height of 3m and a width of 80cm, to increase the quality, size and quantity of fruit produced. The trees are trellised to prevent the branches, which tend to hang downwards as the trees get older, from breaking under heavy crop loads.
Growth slows down as trees get older
The pruning and management protocols are the same as for Golden Delicious, according to Van Ingen, with the main aim of pruning being to ensure good light penetration throughout trees.
He adds that click-pruning is used, entailing the tipping of one-year-old wood to drive sap flow to new shoots and promote flower development on the rest of the branch. Renewal cutting is done every three to four years, as young wood is known to carry more fruit than older wood.
Maribelle requires minimal to no thinning. “Size is not a problem with this variety, and in the Netherlands, some farmers are loading the trees to prevent the fruit from becoming too big. The average fruit has a 75mm to 85mm diameter,” Van Ingen says.
The apples are picked in two phases based on colour – usually starting with the fruit on the outside of trees and ending with those on the inside.
“The colour, starch and sugar content of the apples should be considered, but a good indicator of ripeness is when the apples turn from a dull to a shiny colour,” he says.
He has heard of a couple of European farmers who blow leaves off trees after the first harvest to improve light penetration inside the trees, but he does not consider this necessary.
“The leaves are the factories of the trees, so I think they still have a function to play while they are there,” says Van Ingen.
Market potential
Maribelle was developed by Sonnaville of the Netherlands around 1998, out of a cross between Gloster, Meiprinses and Elstar. The first trees were planted in 2008 and the first fruit was sold from 2011 onwards.
Heyns says it became available in South Africa in 2014 but uptake has been low because farmers are hesitant to try out new varieties: “Farmers want to know how the variety performs in South Africa and also that it has a well-established market and income potential.”
He adds that the variety has high chill requirements – of at least 700 hours – so cannot be grown everywhere.
Van Ingen says Treequattro is taking much of the market risk out of the equation by testing the apple among retailers and consumers and getting committed agreements from retailers before releasing its varieties for commercial production. “We don’t plant a tree unless there is a demand for it.”
In the fresh produce market, the variety is sold under the trade names Lola or Maribelle, depending on the market, or Bella Bio when produced organically. Currently there are about 200ha planted to Maribelle in Europe, of which 50ha are grown organically.
Van Ingen says he is looking for at least 5 000t of Maribelle to help increase the volumes available on the European market.
As it is a mid-season variety and ripens from about mid-March (around week 12) in South Africa, Van Ingen would like to have the apples in Europe from around April.
The variety has a long shelf life and can be stored at regular temperatures for up to a year. They should be shipped at 1,2°C. Farmers have the option to supply Treequattro with prepackaged fruit or fruit packed into pre-sorted 330kg bins.
Expanding markets
Van Ingen says there is good demand for the fruit in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, India and Vietnam, and farmers have the option to export to these markets directly.
Treequattro works royalties of about €0.05 (around R1), which includes funds set aside for marketing variety, into the price of Maribelle sold per kilogram in Europe. Farmers who export to other destinations would have to work the royalties into their pricing.
Farmers earn about €0.78 (R15) per kilogram for Maribelle sold in Europe. “The cost of producing and exporting to Europe is roughly the same as the cost of selling European Maribelle apples,” Van Ingen says.
“South African farmer earnings should, therefore, be in line with those of their European counterparts.”
