THREE Ngqushwa citrus farmers who are currently using a packhouse built with corrugated iron to pack their oranges voiced their excitement when they visited the newly built Ripplemead packhouse funded by the Eastern Cape Rural Development and the national Agriculture Department as part of commercializing agriculture.

DRDAR invested R52 million into
the construction of the Ripplemead packhouse to help the farmers get a facility that meets the standards of international and local buyers using the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Program grant.

The trio produces oranges sold to local markets with high volumes exported
to the European, American, Asian and Middle East markets.

Zukile Mgadle of Ripplemead farm said seeing the newly built packhouse was like a dream because after their pleas for help drew a blank they lost all hope of getting such a facility.

“Pleading with former MEC Qoboshiyane was not the first time we asked MECs for this. We have been asking for this facility for many years. It is like a dream seeing this facility and we don’t believe we finally got this packhouse,” said Mgadle.

He added that in the old packhouse they take turns packaging their oranges with some of their fruit losing quality before getting to the markets. “In the old facility we wait for each farmer to pack while oranges don’t wait for each other. This new facility means we will now send more fresh and quality oranges to

the markets to enable us to manipulate the market and comply with market requirements,” said Mgadle.

Hambile Nyamezeli, owner of the Siyamila Citrus farm said the packhouse they are using now is an old structure built in 1927 and limits their market reach.

“Because we are using this facility, we are unable to send our fruit to all the markets because our packhouse is of a very low standard,” said Nyamezeli.

Another farmer, Khayalethu Mpahla said they invested a lot of their own money trying to fix the current packhouse to comply with food packaging and processing requirements and standards.

“There are markets that want oranges from packhouses with

BRC accreditation. Markets like Tesco, Salisbury pay better premiums. From orchard point of view we meet all the standards but when it comes to the packhouse, it is a limitation unless we take our fruit to Fort Beaufort packhouses.

We don’t send the oranges we pack in the current packhouse to the markets with high standards,” said Mpahla.

He said they appealed to former Drdar MEC, Mlibo Qoboshiyane and his department to help them get a new facility that meets the standards of the local and international markets.