Former Tanzania Coffee Farm Becomes Avocado Exporter

In 2007, after 15 years of working on a large coffee farm in neighbouring Kenya, British farmer, James Parsons out to convert the former German coffee farm into an avocado farm.

The 137-hectare site had long fallen into disrepair. Overgrown shrubs and bushes had spread across the land, surviving coffee trees were diseased and the roof of the old farmhouse was full of holes. Years of price volatility, nationalisation in the 1970s and poor management from local co-operatives had led to the farm’s collapse.

“This was a coffee growing area and the cooperative from which I rented the land wanted me to grow coffee. They didn’t understand why I wanted to do avocados. They thought I wanted to grow local avocados,” he says, referring to the variety of large avocados with big stones that are sold cheaply on street corners across the country.

Africado uses about 65l of water to produce one kilo of avocados – far less than the global estimate of 283l of water needed to produce a kilo of avocados, according to the Water Footprint Network.

With efforts to use less water, also comes efforts to reduce waste. Every year, around 20 per cent of the avocado production unsuitable for exports is sent to Kenya to be processed into oil that's often used for cosmetics. The rest is packaged on site and will reach consumers’ plates about 30 days after being picked.

In 2018, Africado exported 3,000 tons of avocados to Europe – about half of Tanzania’s production.

Parsons has started a second avocado farm – doubling Africado’s production capacity thanks to a £3.5m loan from the Finnish and Norwegian development funds, AgDevCo, a company funded by the UK’s Department for International Development that invests in African agribusiness.

“We should be able to reach more than 6,000 tons of exports,” Parsons says.

The new farm will grow gem avocados, a variety which has a tough skin with gold flecks, as well as a rich flavour that comes from staying on the tree for longer, and is anticipated to rival hass avocados on the global market.

With a different harvest period to the hass type, growing gem avocados will enable the farm to extend its production season from the current four months to eight months a year — retaining its seasonal staff for longer.

In 2010, Africado launched a small-holder scheme selling local people subsidised seedling trees, from the farm, with a guarantee that it will buy their production in return. Nine years later, the initiative counts more than 2,000 small-holder farmers across a 200 kilometre radius.

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Kenya: Fruit Juice Maker Invests US$5 Million To Increase Capacity

Fruits juice maker Del Monte Kenya has invested Sh580 million (1US$=KES103; July 2019) in a new fresh fruit packing facility with a processing capacity of 60 tonnes of fresh fruit per year.

The new facility, which is being constructed within Del Monte Kenya’s plantation is scheduled to be completed in August 2019 to expand production of pineapples avocados, mangos and passion fruit juices.

“Del Monte Kenya plans to source fruit from local and regional growers in Murang’a and Kiambu Counties, we will prepare and package the products from the new facility for both local and international markets,” said Del Monte managing director Stergios Gkaliamoutsas.

He said the expansion drive is the company’s way of celebrating 70 years of operations in the country and is expected to create 200 new direct jobs.

Del Monte Kenya employs over 6,500 employees and creates additional 28,000 jobs indirectly through its activities. The company houses half of its workforce within the company’s premises.

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African white star apple's commercial potential under-appreciated

The African white star apple, chrysophyllum albidum, is a seasonal delicacy in parts of West Africa, but even there has not yet found a niche as a processed product. Like many other seasonal fruits that grow wild, a season's harvest is almost all consumed fresh, and much of it simply  goes to waste. It is high in calcium, and amongst claims about its benefits are that it can help in the control of diabetes and heart disease.

Farmers in an area of Nigeria in which it grows well are calling for efforts to value-add the African white star apple into various products.


African Agriculture

Indebted Nambian grape farm faces liquidation

Among other debtors it presently can't pay, Komsberg Farming owes the Agricultural Bank of Namibia N$133 milliion (US$15 million).

Komsberg Farming grows grapes and dates for export on a 33,000 hectares estate. The company was placed under provisional liquidation in July after it was found to be “factually and commercially insolvent.”

The company disputes the amount owing to Agribank, and pleads that there are investors who are willing to inject capital into the floundering operation.

Agribank has filed to join the earlier liquidation suit against Komsberg Farming by Louis Group South Africa, another unpaid creditor. The company also owes unpaid taxes.

African Agriculture

Mango processing plant to open in Malindi, Kenya

A 75 million Kenya Shilling (1US$ = 84 KES) mango processing plant is set to open in February in a key cultivation region of the fruit, Malindi. The plant will crush 60 tonnes of raw mangoes every day. Another factory is also set to open in Hola, Tana Delta. With a combined capacity to process 90 tonnes of raw mangoes in a day, the new factories are expected to significantly improve farm gate prices paid to farmers.

Malindi and Tana Delta are the main producers of Ngowe mango, which is preferred for juice making.

Malindi alone produces over 70 per cent of the total production of the variety in the Coast province.

The new plant was set up by the Malindi Farmers Cooperative Society, which has been buying raw mangoes from its members for sale to the juice manufacturers. The project was funded by the Micro Enterprise Support Programme Trust (MESPT) that receives support from Danida, a Danish funding institution. The project was built from last year on a Build Operate Transfer (BOT) arrangement and MESPT will transfer it to the co-operative once the capacity to run it is established.

The pulp can be stored for a long period of time and will also reduce the cost of transport associated with selling raw mangoes, which sometimes go bad before they even secure a market. Total wastage is estimated at 40 percent of the total collections.

In Malindi, there are over 12,000 mango farmers with an estimated 120,000 trees lying on 1,700 hectares of land, according to the results of a baseline survey on the crop carried out in 2009 by Institutional Development and Management Services (IDM), a research firm.

Since mango is a seasonal crop, an addition of equipment to the machines that were imported from Italy will create capacity for the factory to process passion, pineapples and water melon, Nyale said.

The new plant has increased the Coast province processing capacity to 260 tonnes of mango everyday. In addition to the two new factories, other major processors in the region include Allfruits EPZ limited in Mikindani, which process about 100 tonnes of mango everyday for export to Europe and Milly Fruit famous for Picana brand that is able to crush about 70 tonnes of mangoes per day.


more...Business Daily Africa

Argentine experts to assist Mozambican fruit industry

Argentina plans to share its agricultural expertise with Mozambican farmers to help increase yields and productivity in a range of crops, including bananas, citrus and exotic fruit.

A delegation from the government-backed National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) recently met with farmers to discuss starting a pilot project between March and April. The move follows a research project in neighboring South Africa that was launched in late 2011.

INTA international technical cooperation general manager Daniel Díaz, said his organization would be looking at how to replicate Argentina’s successful Pro-Huerta project, which helped 600,000 families develop their farmland, in Mozambique.

“The areas of cooperation with the African country would be animal and plant health, direct sowing, biotechnology, irrigation, technology transfer, development of crops,” he said.

Diaz said he was confident the new iniative would be successful because of the Mozambican farmers’ agricultural experience and willingness to learn. The Mozambique National Farmers Union has welcomed the project as a major boost for its plans to increase the country’s agricultural development.

Mozambique has 36 million hectares of potential farming land but at the moment just 10% of its land is devoted to crop growing. The country has a population of 21 million with 3,500,000 small producers, living off plots of land of 0.5-5 hectares, accounting for 98% of all farms.

In addition to fruit the country’s main crops are beans, cassava, rice, soya beans, palm oil, sunflower oil, sweet potatoes cotton and cotton.

freshfruitportal

Ugandan farmer makes good with fresh fruit exports

Having ventured into the world of commercial farming 15 years ago, James Kanyije has manoeuvred his way around quite successfully.

After graduating with a diploma in business studies in 1996 from Makerere University Business School, then referred to as the National College of Business Studies in Nakawa, Kanyije joined the employed ranks.

He worked with the Uganda Fish Parkers, where he received a wage of sh80,000 per month, eventually joining Icemark Africa Limited five years on.

Armed with a good knowledge of the fresh fruit industry in the UK, Spain, Belgium and other countries in Europe, Kanyije ventured out on his own at the turn of the millennium.

“I started small and gradually expanded. I was using farmland that I jointly owned with my brothers,” he says. “I sent my first consignment of fresh produce to Holland around September 2000, and after two years, orders started coming from France and other parts of Europe.

“People would read the labels on the boxes and would call me. We reached 1,000 tonnes of exports in 2007,” he says.

 Kanyije’s 100-acre farm, where he grows matooke, apple, banana, sugarcane, okra, sweet potatoes, hot pepper, gunda and carrera for the European market.

“Twice a week, we send at least 200 boxes of potatoes, 20 boxes of okra, 240 boxes of matooke to Europe. We also ship at least 5,000 boxes of bird eye chilli every week, but we need much more,” he says.

Ugandans in Europe also love the matooke, while Asians and a big portion of the West Africans generally like the white and the purple egg-plants commonly referred to as entula in Luganda.

“I have at least seven dedicated buyers in the UK, but most times I am unable to fulfil the orders. Even with 500 outgrowers getting the required quantities is still a struggle,” he notes.

Kanyije says the current heavy rains are as much a blessing as they are a challenge. With rains going into a third straight month, some of the matooke plantain stems are weakening and eventually breaking under the weight of full grown plantain.

To ensure that maximum output is derived from the plantation, Kanyije employs about 44 workers on the farm to tend the farm. Even then, he says additional labour is still needed to tend the 40 acres of matooke, four acres of apple banana, two acres of sugarcane, four acres of sweet potatoes and the other crops.

“Around this time last year, there was insufficient rain and we had to search for water to irrigate the land since the soils here are not so good. We even hired a rain maker, who failed to deliver the much-needed rain,” Kanyije says.

He adds that the rains fell shortly after the rain-maker was sent away. However, it dawned on him that he needed to mulch his farm, especially the banana plantation, to check soil erosion.

He says finding the required amount of grass to cover all the 40 acres of matooke will take a while.
He also uses the hot pepper rejects as a pesticide and fungicide in the banana garden, something he says, has added to the quality of his crop output.

“The scent from the hot pepper is strong enough to drive away dangerous insects from infecting the matooke stems. Additionally, when the hot pepper rots, it forms manure,” he says.

Without giving a detailed account of his earnings from the exports to Europe, he says he has been able to sustain his household and build a clinic of sh650m for residents of Busika, a neighbouring town.

He says each box of matooke and okra is sold at 14 pounds in the UK, that of African eggplant is 10 pounds, with the average prices of the rest of the crops at 14 pounds per box in the European market.

In October, Kanyije sold about 10,932 boxes of hot pepper, 2,306 boxes of matooke, 3,716 boxes of bird eye chilli, 1,875 boxes of African egg plant and several other boxes of sweet potatoes, apple banana, avocado, mango and beans.

Kanyije says without a cooling unit, losses occur when flights to Europe are cancelled or delayed because fresh fruits are perishable.

“The Government talks about supporting agriculture, but people like me with large farms are receiving little or no support. The Government should finance us and pass legislation that bans the importation of certain inorganic fertilisers,” he says.

He adds that there is need for all stakeholders in the fresh food export business to approach the international market as a single group from the country.

Kanyije argues that by approaching the international market as an individual erodes gains from exporting and weakens chances of penetrating foreign markets.

Pointing at a plantation of okra that is withering due to poor quality seeds, he says the Government should source for good quality seeds from countries like India.

Kanyije says a kilogram of okra seeds purchased from India costs 100 euros (about sh360,000).
To make things worse, a section of the farm has been hit by a rare virus streak that eats up the stems of the sweet banana locally known as ndizi, drying up the stem and the leaves of the crop, eventually killing the plantain or making it ripen prematurely.

He adds that fresh fruit companies that send contraband into the UK alongside their merchandise are making it harder to do legitimate business in the country.

New Vision

Scientists find desert cure for dates disease

by Toufik Bougaada

An Algerian research team said that four plants are effective against the fungus that causes Bayoud disease. The fungus, which spreads mostly through root contact, can currently only be tackled by isolating healthy palms from diseased counterparts. It has been termed a "plague to Saharan agriculture" by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The team, from Béchar University, tested extracts from the plants, which grow in the Algerian Sahara desert. People of south-west Algeria use the extracts as an antifungal traditional medicine.

The extracts successfully inhibited growth of Fusarium oxysporum forma specialis albedinis (FOA), which causes Bayoud disease.

The team, led by Abdelkrim Cheriti, director of the university's Phytochemistry and Organic Synthesis Laboratory (POSL), announced its results at a press conference last month (11 November) and says it has a paper in press.

Cheriti pointed out that most desert plants produce substances that help them adapt to their environments and fend off diseases.

"We had the idea of using such metabolites, found in plants that grow in the same environment as the date palms and are able to resist Bayoud, to create an effective treatment for date palms," he told SciDev.Net.

A field trial of the treatment began in October in south-west Algeria and results are expected within three years.

"Bayoud inflicts serious damage on the production of dates in Algeria and North Africa, it has nearly wiped out many of the best strains of the tree that yield high quality dates," Ben Aichi Bachir, professor of economics at University of Mohamed Khidar Biskra, in Algeria, told SciDev.Net.

He added that "the new natural treatment, if approved after large-scale experiment, could help increase production of dates in the region, while decreasing their production costs". The new approach would be cheaper than current approaches to tackling the disease, he said.

But Nadia Bouguedoura, director of the laboratory of research in arid zones at Algeria's University of Sciences and Technology Houari Boumediene, cautioned that all new approaches to tackling Bayoud disease are still in the preliminary phase.

Bouguedoura said that the treatment is "a serious step on the road for finding a fundamental solution to the disease", but added that the research still "needs to be tested on the ground to confirm its results".

"Until it is approved, genetic control by breeding tree strains resistant to Bayoud disease remains the only valid way [of controlling the disease]," she said.

According to the FAO, the Arab states are the main producers and exporters of dates. Around 70 per cent of the 120 million date palm trees are found in Arab countries, with an annual production value of more than US$1 billion.

It says that "the disease continues to advance relentlessly to the east" and that "it will certainly pose serious problems of human, social and economic nature to other date-producing areas of the world".

SciDev

Hoax email claims South African bananas infected with ''flesh-eating" bacterium

An email claiming that certain bananas from South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province have been poisoned with a flesh-eating bacterium has been clarified as a hoax email by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

In the email, members of the public are warned not to buy or eat the bananas as they will be infected by a flesh-eating bacterium. It further advises recipients to seek medical attention if they develop a fever after eating the bananas.

The Department of Agriculture's Acting Chief Director for Stakeholder Relations and Communications, Steve Galane, said Monday: "The information we received from the Department of Health is that the banana scare email is a hoax, and any claims regarding poor food safety will be investigated. The department said in its report that at this stage, they don't see any need to do so as they deem this claim to be a hoax."

The hoax email advises those who may have been infected by the "bacterium" to burn their skin around the infection to prevent it from spreading.

Galane said the department strongly advises against burning of the skin. "Deliberately burning your skin could lead to serious injury and permanent damage," he said.

BUA NEWS

Climate change adaptation: watermelon farming in a drought

by Isaiah Esipisu

On a Sunday evening, a track loaded with 10 tonnes of watermelons leaves Geoffrey Ndung’u’s homestead in Kanyonga village in semi-arid Eastern Kenya. It travels past a village shopping centre were people have formed a queue to receive food aid because of a prolonged drought in the area.

While his fellow villagers are feeling the effect of the drought, Ndung’u has turned it into a business and his harvest will earn him 2,000 dollars, from farming just 1.2 hectares of dry land.

"It is now two years since I learnt how to co-exist with the drought, thanks to support from ActionAid International and the Ministry of Agriculture," says the 56-year-old father of five.

A host of humanitarian organisations in partnership with the government have undertaken to train people from drought-stricken areas in Kenya on how to take advantage of worsening conditions. "We have introduced a new project known as ‘Drought Coping Training’, where we train members of communities from arid and semi-arid areas on how to co-exist with the ever-changing climatic conditions," says Francis Njoroge, the officer in charge of ActionAid International – Kenya in the larger Embu region.

The need for finance for adaptation measures like this forms part of the African position at the ongoing 17th Conference of Parties (COP 17) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Durban, South Africa.

"Africa’s commitment to addressing the change is evident across the continent. We have seen people engage in adaptation projects from the grassroots at personal and community level. Yet we are sure that this can be scaled up to national levels and eventually continental levels," said the Permanent Secretary for Kenya’s Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources Ali Mohammed.

Kenya’s constitution recognises the importance of protecting the environment. It stipulates that farmers should ensure that at least 10 percent of their farms have trees in order to increase forest cover, while at the same time addressing the issue of climate change mitigation.

"All we need to see in Durban is for the developed world – which consists of countries that hold the biggest responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions – commit themselves to providing funds for adaptation measures, capacity building and technology transfer," added Mohammed.

The Angolan delegation to COP 17 has also called for funding for adaptation projects. The country wants to focus on agriculture as a means of providing food security, employment and a source of income and is looking for innovative methods of food production that can withstand the changing climatic conditions.

Angola also has an action plan for alternative sources of energy.

"We are championing for the use of alternative sources of energy, especially in rural areas, in order to save forests. We are at the same time encouraging farmers to engage in sustained charcoal farming, so that trees are grown specifically for fuel production," said Abias Huongo, the head of Angolan delegation. Angola is also seeking funding for climate monitoring mechanisms that will enable the government to put in place early warning systems for climate-related disasters.

However, the African delegation noted that the continent might fail to make further progress if there is no commitment from the developed countries to finance adaptation projects.

"The African Group of Negotiators is concerned by the insufficient transparency and slow disbursement of the financial resources pledged by developed countries as ‘fast start’ finance for the period 2010-2012. To address this, the African Group proposes a common reporting format for finance pledges," said Seyni Nafo, the spokesperson of the African Group of Negotiators.

Head of Programmes at the Third World Network – Africa, Tetteh Hormek, echoed his sentiments. He said that the developed world should come out clearly to support developing countries to adapt to climate change.

"As the Kyoto Protocol enters into the second phase by the year 2012, we are calling upon the developed world to cut down on carbon financing mechanisms, which are like a double edged sword," said Hormeku.

IPS

Ugandan farmers stuck with oranges; promised processing factory still to materialize

by Richard Otim

Mr Christopher Okiria, a resident of Maditok Village in Uganda's Ngora Sub-county, retired from teaching three years ago to grow oranges hoping to earn better income from it, but he is yet to reap the benefits. He had planted at least 200 trees in his garden and had expected to reap at least Shs5 million from the oranges this year.

Like Okiria, the majority of people in retirement across Teso region took on citrus projects on a large scale to grow oranges when government promised to set up a fruit factory to absorb the excess production.

"We are now stranded with the oranges. Our energy has been wasted," the retired teacher says.

The chairperson of Soroti Fruit Farmers Association, Mr Gaudesio Opio, said farmers had extensively embarked on growing fruits for the last five years as an alternative means of income, but the practice has not paid off due to poor marketing skills.

" Marketing oranges in the region is lacking, that is why farmers are losing morale in fruit growing," Mr Opio said. He said oranges at the grassroots and local producers have been mostly affected by price fluctuations.

Orange farmers had a bumper harvest this year but failed to secure a profitable market.

"Middlemen have taken advantage of this weakness and are exploiting growers," Mr Opio said, adding that the association has joined other groups in the region to push for better conditions.

Mr James Odongo, a farmer in Ngora, said traders from Kenya and South Sudan buy a bag at Shs10, 000, down from last season's Shs50, 000 per bag.

Teso leaders in Ngora recently asked President Museveni to fulfill the pledge he made a decade ago that a fruit processing plant would be established in Teso.

The government pledged Shs5 billion for the plant under the Prosperity-for-all programme. The government's delay in constructing the factory has irked many farmers who are now threatening massive protests.

"Our oranges are rotting. The government should rescue us. Why wait until it is time of campaigns then talk of the factory?" Ms Susan Ikelot, a farmer in Serere district, asked.

During a meeting last year by Uganda Development Corporation in Soroti to discuss the proposed fruit factory, it was agreed that the plant would be operational by 2010. The losses have been so immense that most farmers are considering abandoning the plants.

The Resident District Commissioner of Soroti, Mr Ben Etonu, said the fruit plant in the offing has a big capacity and the current orange production may not be able to sustain the plant. Mr Etonu urged farmers to grow more oranges, adding that 230 acres of land have been secured for the factory.

The Monitor

Fast maturing, disease-resistant papaya introduced in Kenya

A papaya pilot project through a partnership between a horticultural farmers group and a South African drinks company has triggered the rise of a new fruit and market in Kapsabet district of Rift Valley. Farmers are racing to move into the new, fast maturing, disease resistant, dwarf papaya variety called the Red Royale Papaya.

The Tapsigei Farmers Union had a two-year painful courtship with papaya farming, characterised by incessant diseases and stunted growth of the traditional papaya. But in February Fizzle Fit Company, a soft drink making firm from South Africa, pitched tent in the area looking for suppliers of raw papaya. Impressed by the number of farmers in the group and their commitment to horticulture, the company introduced them to a new hybrid papaya seed which they promptly adopted. Eight months later, the farmer group has exported their first batch of the Red Royale papaya to the South African firm, while also delivering fruit into the local market; to hospitals, hotels, and supermarkets.

The farmers, now in their second trial, produced more than Fizzle Fit Company needed. But “just like it is with everything new, locals treated the fruit with suspicion especially due to its somehow reddish colour inside, which they considered strange. But we explained the benefits and even gave free samples for testing. When we next took it to the market, we not only cleared stock but got numerous requests by customers to assist them with seeds,” said Dominic Rono, one of the members of the group.

This has seen the group multiply seeds, packaging them in manageable quantities to sell to local farmers. “This is a revolutionary fruit and we are in the process of approaching the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service to certify our seeds as we plan to distribute them nationally,” he said.

The farm gate price of Red Royale Papaya is Sh200, and Sh250 to large stores. The huge appetite for the fruit has seen farmers strategise to have a constant year-round supply.

They have divided themselves into three groups with each planting at a particular period of the month. Every farmer ploughs back 10 per cent of their earnings into the farmers group to assist colleagues with financial difficulties and save for a processor that the group hopes to buy in two years’ time. The fruit processor will allow the farmers to make and package their own papaya juice as they anticipate the market for Red Royale Papaya will be saturated in a year’s time based on the brisk uptake of the seeds. The group also plans to invest in value addition of the fruit by making salads, drinks, jam, jelly, marmalade, candies and crystallised fruits. “Right now we are selling the seeds at Sh50 for the smallest pack and demand is very high. Locals have seen benefits in terms of sales of the fruit,” said Miriam Cherono, the group’s secretary.

The Red Royale Papaya was first developed by Asia based seed breeder East West Seeds and is short with some of its fruits being less than a foot above the ground, closely bunched, with no gaps between the fruits. On average one tree carries 20 fruits with each weighing between two to 2.5 kilos compared to ordinary papaya trees, which can hold a maximum of 10 fruits. The peel of the fruit, unlike those of ordinary papayas, are mixed with the fruit in making papaya juice and are known to preserve the juice. It takes seven months for a seedling to mature to a ripe fruit, compared to nine months for ordinary papayas. The tree has also demonstrated superior resistance to the notorious Papaya Ring Spot Virus, responsible for over 65 per cent of spoilt papayas on farms. A quarter of an acre can accommodate 30 to 40 papaya trees. Of the many commercial varieties of papaya grown in Kenya, only Red Royale has been reported to also have resistance to Phytophthora palmivora, an equally devastating papaya disease.

Business Daily Africa

Tunisia: dates crop estimated at 190,000 tons

This year's Tunisian dates crop is estimated at 190,000 tons, a record production.

80,000 tons of dates were exported in 2010 and exporters plan to improve this quota this year. During a  meeting, exporters emphasized the need to get closer to producers to ensure a better quality of exportable production.

http://www.africanmanager.com

Europe debt woes drive South African fruit exporters to seek new markets

Europe's debt woes have hurt demand and prompted fruit exporters in South Africa, the world's second-largest citrus fruit supplier, to seek new markets in Asia, an industry official said on September 14.

"Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain all take our fruit, but demand levels are lower. However, we are also finding that the food inflation prices are higher than previous years, so the lower volumes are being offset by higher prices," said Stuart Symington, chief executive of the Fresh Produce Exporters Forum.

He said South Africa currently exports 2.5 million tonnes of fresh fruit annually, of which about 70 percent is destined for countries in Europe.

Only Spain exports more citrus fruit.

Fruit farms are a significant source of employment in rural areas in a country with a jobless rate of over 25 percent and according to Symington export earnings should top 12 billion rand in 2011.

"We are looking to the Far East to expand our efforts ... Indonesia, Thailand, India, Vietnam, China, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan and Japan," Symington said.

"Europe is still a very important market for us, but it is risky to put so much of our export volumes into one regional market."

He added that South Africa would probably be comfortable in the very long-term with shipping 40 percent to 50 percent of its fruit export volumes into Europe.

Strong commodities demand from South Korea, Taiwan and Japan has so far helped boost South African maize exports.

The country also had to look for new maize export markets after some of its traditional outlets within the region also harvested bumper crops.

Reuters

Hawaii's genetically modified papayas attacked in suspected 'eco terrorism'

by Jennifer Sinco Kelleher

Thousands of papaya trees were chopped down on 10 acres of Hawaii's Big Island farmland under the cover of night last month. Hawaii County police said the destruction appeared to be done with a machete, but there are no leads and few clues beyond the tree stumps and all the fruit left to rot.

"It's hard to imagine anybody putting that much effort into doing something like that," said Delan Perry, vice president of the Hawaii Papaya Industry Association. "It means somebody has to have passionate reason."

A growing theory among farmers is that the attack was an act of eco-terrorism, a violent protest against the biotechnology used in growing papayas here. Police did not respond to calls seeking comment.

The majority of papayas grown on 170 farms on Oahu and the Big Island are genetically modified.

University of Hawaii scientists developed the genetically modified fruit that's resistant to a ring spot virus that wiped out production on Oahu in the 1950s and was detected in the Puna district on the Big Island in the 1990s. Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, are crops whose genetic makeup has been altered to give the plant a desirable trait. The genetically modified fruit is credited with saving Hawaii's $11 million papaya production industry.

"We wouldn't have a papaya industry today if it weren't for the transgenic papaya," said Alicia Maluafiti, executive director of the Hawaii Crop Improvement Association, which represents the seed industry and protects biotech crop growers. "Without a transgenic papaya restricting the expansion of the virus, that virus would be prevalent today."

Restricting the virus has also allowed for organic papayas to be grown, she said.

Without the transgenic papaya, the Vitamin C-laden fruit would cost a lot more to enjoy, said Richard Manshardt, a tropical fruit breeder and geneticist at the University of Hawaii who was on the team that developed the genetically modified fruit.

Kevin Richards, director of regulatory relations for the American Farm Bureau Federation, said he knows of no other crop that relies on biotechnology to save it from disease. Commodity crops such as cotton, soy and corn commonly use genetic engineering in order to make them easier and cheaper to grow.

"Papaya would be unique in the sense where the industry in Hawaii is dependent on biotech," said Richards. "What you have in Hawaii is a very contained, isolated agro-eco system, which is vulnerable to diseases."

He cited international examples of eco-terrorism: activists who took weed-whackers to test crops of drought-resistant wheat in Australia and test plots of biotech eggplants destroyed in the Philippines. Hawaii's papayas are held up as an example of how biotechnology can improve access to crops, Richards said.

That's especially important in parts of the world with a limited food supply, Manshardt said, adding that genetic engineering could be used to protect cassava crops with severe virus problems in Africa and Latin America.

Hawaii farmers had no choice but to grow GMO papayas in order to survive, said Perry, whose organization has raised a $10,000 reward for information on the crop destruction. "Papaya is the No. 1 fruit eaten in Hawaii," he said.

One of the affected farmers, Erlinda Bernardo, said fellow papaya growers often worry about retaliation from those who are against GMOs. "Most of the product on the island is genetically modified," she said. "If not, most of the farmers would suffer, there would be more unemployment."

Bernardo, her husband and four children are preparing to plant again in another area after 3,000 trees worth $15,000 on five leased acres were destroyed. "We're afraid to plant in that area, so we're giving up the lease there," she said. "When you start all over again, you have to wait a year for the papaya to bear fruit."

Associated Press

Argentine company to acquire South African citrus farm

Argentina’s largest lemon producer San Miguel has signed a ZAR100 million (US$13.8 million) agreement to buy a South African citrus farm in the Eastern Cape region.

In a statement released on the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange, the company said the ‘Riverbend’ farm in the Sundays River Valley has a production potential one million cartons annually, and would be purchased through affiliate San Miguel Fruits South Africa (Pty) Ltd

“The ‘Riverbend’ farm has a surface area of 2,682 hectares of land distributed in several plots, of which 330 are planted with citrus with an average age of nine years and a production potential of one million export boxes,” said chief financial officer Alejandro Daireaux.

“The Agreement also includes water rights for 380 hectares which would allow for the development of a net area of 600 hectares of citrus, to double the volume up to two million export boxes.

“The acquired land includes 1.951 hectares currently used as a game farm. The Board intends to sell the game farm during the next two years, approximately.”

The acquisition agreement also includes machinery and improvements, along with the harvest crop as of Aug. 1 this year, which will be harvested in October. With this year’s crop value estimated at ZAR10 million (US$1.38 million), the net price of the assets is calculated as ZAR90 million (US$12.42 million).

The deal still awaits final approval from the seller’s board of directors, which is expected to take place on Sep. 1.

“The Closing of the deal is estimated for late October or early November, when all assets will be transferred to San Miguel against payment of the price.”

Daireaux said the deal was part of San Miguel’s strategy to become a leading citrus business player in the Southern Hemisphere, following on from previous investments in South Africa made in 2008.

He said the company would develop productive, logistic, organizational and business know-how in South Africa, wit the aim to provide customers an extended citrus product mix.

“All these will strengthen San Miguel´s leadership as a citrus player within the Southern Hemisphere, with volume, quality and varieties that the market demands.”

www.freshfruitportal.com

Kenya's extreme winemaking high above the Equator

by Tony Karumba

It is grape picking time at Kenya's only commercial vineyard. Manager James Farquharson supervises the harvest and pretty much all else going on at the vineyard.

"We're practically on the Equator and at very high altitude. That makes management of the vines here very different from the way it would be in France or even in South Africa," he explained.

The goal on this more-than-mile-high farm is ambitious -- to produce a quality wine in Kenya. The brand is called Leleshwa -- the name of a small olive-like local tree. It is produced at the Rift Valley Winery which is owned by Kenya Nut, whose core business, as its name suggests, is cashew and macadamia nuts.

Farquharson spent his childhood between Kenya, Scotland and South Africa, where he studied wine making. Then came a managerial position with a large privately-owned South African wine producer. Though he found the job stimulating it was "too office-based" for his liking.

Out of the blue, Farquharson received an email saying a rich Kenyan businessman was looking for a specialist to develop his vineyard -- and it is now more than three years since he decided to take up to the challenge.

Pius Ngugi, the businessman who owns Kenya Nut as well as Thika Coffee Mills, had tried making wine from vines at his farm north of Lake Naivasha in the Rift Valley in the 1990s. After deciding he was never going to achieve a wine of constant quality, he put the project on the backburner. His son Mbugua Ngugi, knowing how close the project had been to his father's heart, revived it -- but this time seeking out a professional viticulturist and winemaker who knew Africa.

The vineyard's geographical situation -- at 2,000 metres (6,500 feet) right near the Equator, 90 kilometres (55 miles) northwest of Nairobi -- as well as Kenya's climate provide Farquharson with several challenges.

But he knew extreme winemaking was working elsewhere, including in Argentina which has some of the world's highest vineyards at more than 3,000 metres along the Andean mountain range.

"We'll never produce the sort of 'great wines' that the French do," said Farquharson, but "we try to keep it simple and respect the fundamental principles of wine production."

Cost is its side, since Leleshwa is exempt from heavy import duties that push up the price of French or the popular South African and Chilean wines.

A Leleshwa Sauvignon blanc retails in local supermarkets for KES 540 (about six dollars/4.2 euros) and the brand's red for KES 645, which is about 10 to 15 percent less than a comparable Chilean wine here.

The wine from Naivasha...is gaining a following among Kenya's fast-growing middle class that is more and more "open to the idea of paying for quality products."

Over the next 10 years the vineyard hopes to boost annual production to three million bottles from just 80,000 currently.

AFP

East African mango, passion fruit farmers to supply Coca Cola

by Paul Tentena

Close to 50,000 East African small scale mango and passion fruit farmers will supply fruits to Coca Cola for the production of juice.

The company said in Kampala that Kenyan and Ugandan farmers would be the first to benefit with a targeted number of 23,000 and 17,000 in the two countries respectively.

...the launch is the direct result of the $15m investment made by Century Bottling Company on a hot-fill juice line in Namanve last year. It started manufacturing the Dasani water brand from the same plant following capacity enhancements.

...the Minute Maid introduction is cemented by a sustainable raw material supply chain project announced last year between Coca Cola and Bill Gates Foundation, where the company is working with 17000 small scale mango and passion fruit farmers in Eastern Uganda to supply the Coca Cola system.

Busiweek

Purfresh Transport allows pineapple shippers to reach new markets

Purfresh, a leading provider of clean technologies that purify, protect, and preserve the global food supply chain, today announced that pineapple shippers around the globe are leveraging Purfresh® Transport to reach new markets, which were previously unattainable via ocean transit, while meeting the high-quality standards of importers.

Purfresh Transport, an intelligent cargo protection solution, is being employed worldwide to ship pineapples from Central and South America to Eastern Europe, Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Greece, Middle East, and North Africa ranging from 21- to 36-day voyages.

Highly susceptible to mold and decay-causing pathogens, as well color change resulting from build-up of ambient ethylene, pineapples are at risk of quality degradation during long distance ocean transport. Unlike traditional controlled atmosphere (CA) technologies, which do little to extend shelf life and can increase pineapple flesh translucency, or fungicidal treatments alone, which provide limited market opportunities, Purfresh’s ozone-based intelligent cargo protection technology is ideal for maintaining fruit quality by reducing decay, killing bacteria, and removing ethylene during transit.

Engineered with patent-pending intelligent cargo protection technology, Purfresh Transport reduces the risk of cargo loss, improves food safety, and helps ensure higher-quality arrivals when shipping fresh produce by ocean carrier. Unlike other approaches, such as temperature recorders, traditional CA systems, and fungicides, Purfresh Transport provides full trip transparency along with active atmosphere enhancement to prevent decay, control ripening, and reduce food-borne pathogens.

“The shortcomings of traditional alternatives, combined with logistics complexities, have accelerated the path to Purfresh Transport becoming a global leader in perishable cargo protection,” said Mr. David Bouchard, general manager, post-harvest and transport solutions for Purfresh. “With Purfresh Transport, everyone—from the exporter to the consumer—benefits from safer, higher-quality produce, reduced losses, and a more sustainable global food supply chain.”

Purfresh Transport is offered as a per-trip service from most shipping lines.

www.purfresh.com.

Fruit irrigation schemes in South African province to receive new funds

An amount of R25 million will be used to revitalise three irrigation schemes in Mpumalanga's (South Africa) Bushbuckridge area to boost citrus and banana production in three villages.

"Commitment from the community will ensure that the 3,000 hectares is put back into production," said a spokesman. More funding was expected from private investors to help with the three projects.

He said the first phase of the Champagne irrigation scheme was already completed, allowing for an additional 200 hectares of citrus cultivation.

...a further R10 million to kick-start the revitalisation of the Ngogolo, Mbhunu B, Nhlangu East and West sugarcane projects in Komatipoort.

"This will help integrate local farmers throughout the value chain and take advantage of the developed infrastructure around the Maputo Corridor, the proximity to Mozambique, Swaziland and other South African Development Community countries...,"


Freshplaza