Driving transformation in the citrus industry

Shaun Brown, owner of Eden Agri packhouse, has brought together a group of citrus producers from the Kat River Valley to collaborate on creating a better future for the area and its people. Wouter Kriel reports.

- Wouter Kriel

FAST FACTS

Eden Agri Services is a citrus packhouse that has formed strategic partnerships with black farmers to provide them with the support they need to grow their businesses.

Thanks to the citrus delivered to Eden Agri by these farmers, the packhouse maintains an 80% export packout, adding to the success of the partnerships.

Eden Agri grew from exporting 110 000 cartons of citrus in 2010 to 430 000 cartons in 2020.

In December 2009, Shaun Brown returned to his family farm near Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape’s Kat River Valley. Having left a career in the fruit export sector, he wanted to focus on the development of the farm, but also felt compelled to address the social problems in the valley.

“I’m a Christian, and had a vision of doing something that would lift people out of poverty and unemployment. This led to the establishment of Eden Agri Services, a packhouse where nature’s bounty is shared amongst the people,” he says.

According to Brown, the Kat River Valley has the climate, soils and water to produce some of the finest soft citrus in South Africa. With that in mind, he purchased second-hand equipment and began construction of the packhouse on land he purchased in 2003 outside Fort Beaufort.

The Kat River Valley is also home to the Maqoma family, the local Xhosa chieftaincy with a long lineage going back to the famous General Maqoma (1798 to 1873), who fought against the British in the Xhosa Wars of the 19th century. Today, Chief Siseko Maqoma farms citrus in the valley on Gonzana citrus farm.