Musina – Tiger Brands has supplied irrigation infrastructure to 9 smallholder tomato farmers in Musina, Limpopo.
The transfer boosts their skill to take part meaningfully in enhancing meals safety within the province.
The irrigation techniques will assist farmers increase manufacturing and higher navigate the challenges of unpredictable local weather change situations.
The 9 Musina-based farms, 4 of that are women-owned, provide Tiger Brands with tomatoes to provide its iconic All Gold Tomato Sauce.
The funding is the primary in Tiger Brand’s newly initiated Hulisani Programme, a part of the corporate’s strategic dedication to constructing sustainable sourcing and to strengthening the nation’s resilience to components impacting meals safety.
“We are actively growing sustainable native agricultural sourcing to make sure a dependable provide of uncooked supplies, scale back dependence on imports, help farmers in constructing resilient companies, and contribute to nationwide meals safety,” says Maanda Milubi, Director Enterprise and Supplier Development, Tiger Brands.
The native agricultural sector, which employs greater than 900 000 folks, is a big contributor to the financial system, contributing to job creation and meals safety.
But the sector is confronted with rising challenges, together with lack of infrastructure, entry to satisfactory finance, and the affect of local weather change.
Scores of farms in Musina had been affected by black frost, which swept throughout the Limpopo province in mid-2024.
As a results of the sudden climate occasion, many farmers had been positioned underneath better pressure to keep up their operations and ship provides to Tiger Brands.
The irrigation techniques supplied to the Musina farmers will help with drawing water for operations extra effectively than earlier than and permit them to extend crop manufacturing.
A mixture of sturdy and non-durable irrigation techniques has been supplied to the farmers primarily based on their water high quality.
Upgraded irrigation infrastructure permits farmers to channel funds beforehand allotted to irrigation prices elsewhere of their operations.
Tiger Brands will work carefully with the farmers to observe crop progress, enhance report retaining in the course of the planting seasons, and provide monetary, enterprise administration teaching, and technical help on a necessity foundation.
At the top of the tomato season, the irrigation techniques will help the farmers with the manufacturing of different crops.
As a serious participant within the South African tomato trade, Tiger Brands works alongside greater than 100 business and smallholder farmers in Musina and a smaller group of farmers in Lutzville, Western Cape, to acquire near 100 000 tonnes of tomatoes each year.
The enterprise gives farmers with particular cultivar tomato seedlings required to provide its All Gold Tomato Sauce and different tomato-based merchandise.
Farmers are additionally given technical help in the course of the rising season to make sure crop yields meet Tiger Brands’ high quality requirements.
Tomato crops are processed at Tiger Brands’ tomato processing crops in Musina and Lutzville and transported to its All Gold manufacturing plant in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg.
