GRAAFF-REINET NEWS — On September 18, the Graaff-Reinet Business Chamber invited Roy McLachlan to discuss with their members the recent developments in the region regarding the processing of agave.
Those who attended were provided with a very informative talk by McLachlan assisted by emerging farmer Dennis Jacobs.
According to McLachlan, Mexico’s Best Ground, a manufacturer and trader of healthy food and ingredients such as Agave Syrup, Agave Sugar, Agave Inulin, Avocado Oil and Chia Seeds, is in the process of establishing an agave syrup manufacturing facility in the Eastern Cape.
This will mean lucrative agave farming possibilities for farmers in the region.
The realization of an agave syrup manufacturing facility in the Eastern Cape follows a visit by Best Ground representatives to South Africa at the beginning of the year to investigate the feasibility of such an enterprise.
During the visit to South Africa, Best Ground deduced that the farming of agave in the region, and the subsequent manufacturing of agave syrup, will be a success.
Best Ground then appointed a project manager, Sinuhè Ramirez, to spearhead the project, who visited South Africa in April of this year.
During his visit, Ramirez met with local farmers where he then gave a presentation on the farming of agave and the products derived from the plant. This was done in the hopes of establishing relationships with potential agave growers.
After this visit, which was deemed a success, local Roy McLachlan (who served as managing director of Agave Distillers in Graaff-Reinet when the company was trading in spirits) was tasked to survey areas suitable for agave farming which are located no more than 300km from Coega – this includes Graaff-Reinet and surrounding district.
Coega has been earmarked as the best position for the agave processing facility due to its close proximity to the harbour among other.
McLachlan’s survey deduced that there is enough feedstock in the surveyed area for the facility to be built.
If the project is successful, the company would hope to be able to produce many products such as syrup, sweeteners, fibre additives and other food products.
All of the products manufactured in the facility will be for export mainly to Europe and the Middle East.
The facility will start with agave syrup, however, the facility will be a multi-purpose facility producing syrup from other South African botanicals in future once the trials have been completed.
According to McLachlan, a third visit has just been completed by Sinuhè Ramirez and Carlos Jurado, one of the founding directors of Best Ground.
The purpose of the visit was to meet with farmers to give them an update on the project and to avail themselves for any enquiries.
Anticipated timelines are set for the first trials to be started in the facility at the end of the first quarter of 2018 and for the facility to start running full production by July 2018.
Once the facility is producing agave syrup with the optimum yields the other syrup opportunities will be explored.
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