The recent opening of Karoo Pak’s processing plant will bring huge financial spin-offs for the Oudtshoorn community. This was according to Gerhard Meyer, CEO of Karoo Pak, who explained that the processing plant would allow contracted producers to add value to their pomegranates that did not make export grade. “Typically, producers end up with 10% to 20% fruit that does not make export grade because of blemishes, sunburn and so forth. Through processing, our producers can sell those fruit, which in turn will improve their financial viability.”
Thanks to the Karoo Pak packhouse and new processing facility, more than 250ha of the Wonderful pomegranate variety were planted around Oudtshoorn. Once in full production, this will create more than 300 seasonal jobs on the contracted farms.
Once fully operational, the processing plant will increase the number of people working at the packhouse from 60 to 120 and will lengthen the packing season, resulting in seasonal workers having two more months of work.
This story is from the June 28, 2024 edition of Farmer's Weekly.
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This story is from the June 28, 2024 edition of Farmer's Weekly.
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