Isurus Cherries Zusterstroom

Isurus Investments (Pty) Ltd plans to develop a Cherrie Farm over Portion A, a Portion of Portion 13 of the Farm Zusterstroom 447 JR (“Zusterstroom”) and the Remaining Extent (RE) of the Farm Tweeling 711 JR (“Tweeling”), situated in the Bronkhorstspruit Magisterial District, Gauteng Province.

The proposed development includes the establishment of 26 ha cherrie orchards on the Farm Tweeling and 35 ha cherrie orchards on the Farm Zusterstroom. The cherries will be laid out in separate blocks which will be separated by service tracks (5m wide) that will double as routes for the irrigation pipelines. Five blocks are proposed on the farm Tweeling of which one has already been established over the old lands and five blocks are proposed on the Farm Zusterstroom on which no activities have commenced.

The proposed development will involve the clearance of vegetation for the establishment of the cherrie orchards. Clearance will occur over a period of one (1) to two (2) months. Large parts of the development will be situated on old lands with patches of natural vegetation occurring in between these lands. Based on the outcome of the Terrestrial Biodiversity Assessment undertaken as part of the Basic Assessment Process it was determined that an area of approximately 19ha indigenous vegetation (degraded bushveld only) will be cleared over the affected properties. In addition, the Applicant plans to remove the blue gum trees situated outside the orchard development footprints as well (applicable to the Farm Tweeling only) and replace it with indigenous tree species which will be bought from one of the adjacent landowners Burkei Enterprises. The proposed development will occur in phases starting with the cultivation of the old lands.

Water for irrigation will be sourced under the Gouwsberg Irrigation Board (GIB) from the Wilge River. The Farm Tweeling is incorporated for 47ha irrigation and Zusterstroom for 30 ha irrigation under the GIB. An existing earth dam is located in the southern part of the Farm Zusterstroom to which water will be pumped and from where irrigation will occur. On Tweeling an existing quarry pit will be converted to a farm dam to which water will be pumped and from where irrigation will occur. New pipelines, between 300m and 600m in length, will be implemented to transfer water, via a pump system, from the Wilge River to the irrigation dams and from there to the orchards. Both dams’ capacity will be less than 50 000m3 and irrigation will occur from these points via a main internal irrigation pipeline to which the spray irrigation infrastructure will be connected. Irrigation pipelines will consist of 110 to 225 mm diameter polyvinyl chloride (PVC) piping.

All farming equipment including tractors, trailers, plastic crates, wooden pallets, and chemicals will be stored on the properties in existing sheds and/or houses that will be converted to stores. Cherries will be harvested by hand and transported directly from the orchard, via the current road network, to an existing facility, where it will be packaged for sale to local and international markets.

Ready access to site exists from Road – P237 Zusterstroom.

Province(s): Gauteng