Kenyan fruit farmers competing with imports

Fruits like oranges, grapes and apples are being bought from Kenya's neighbouring countries, especially Tanzania, creating stiff competition for Kenya's own fruit farmers in Nyeria. Farmers in high altitude areas where oranges do well, are not supplying enough of the fruit, a problem attributed to climate change.

Mr John Wambugu, an agronomist at Wambugu farm, said farmers should adopt new methods to maximise yields.

"Farmers should ensure they have enough water for their crops in instances where there is low or no rainfall and also spray their crops against pests and disease," he said.

Traders, however, said they were making good profits from the imported fruit. They said they buy a 70kg sack of oranges for Sh2,000 and sell the fruit for Sh50 a kilogramme.

Ms Margaret Wangui, a trader at Whispers Park market, said she is making huge profits from pawpaw that she buys from Meru.

"I sell a kilogramme of pawpaw for Sh70 after buying them for Sh35 a kilogramme," she said. However, supply of watermelons is poor due to the heavy rains that have been pounding the area.

(1 Kenyan Shilling=0.0099 USD)

Source: allafrica

Read More

S. African top fruit companies invest in technology

Tru-Cape Fruit Marketing and its parent packhouse, have invested in new technology which is set to improve their final product and reduce quality-related claims, which cost the two companies millions of rand.

The new technologies will make it possible to look inside the fruit to test elements such as the amount of sugar in the product and check for defects including internal browning, which could not — until now — be determined without cutting into each piece of fruit. The company did not disclose the amount of money it had invested in the new technology.

Tru-Cape marketing director Conrad Fick said on Thursday 19 May the newly installed Greefa 10-lane sorter can process eight pieces of fruit per second per lane at Two-a-Day in Grabouw, and was the largest in the southern Hemisphere.

"Combined with the new iFA light technology that ‘sees’ into the heart of each apple or pear that is processed, we can now deliver a better final product with fewer issues," he said.

"Our packhouses have had camera-scanning equipment — which increased productivity by 25% (and) sorted faster and more accurately than before — for a while now, and the 1GB Digital GigE camera, which captures a full, high-definition image of 1900 x 1024 pixels to make correct colour selection more efficient, while no longer new, remains current."

Fick said that as consumer tastes and demands become ever-more exacting, Tru-Cape’s packhouses’ ability to add algorithms that sort to ever-higher colour and blemish-free standards becomes essential.

He said the investment will save millions of rand as Tru-Cape will be improving productivity and returning maximum value to growers by not delivering fruit that might be rejected on arrival because of not meeting the packing specification, or of showing signs of internal damage.

Source: bdlive.co.za

Read More