Vegetable processing centre inaugurated

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Vegetable processing centre inaugurated

12:34 CAT | 08 Oct 2018

Photo: AIM

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Thursday inaugurated a vegetable processing centre (CEPHOL) in Xai-Xai, capital of the southern province of Gaza.

This centre was financed by the African Development Bank (ADB), to the tune of over 3.175 million US dollars.

According to Armando Ussivane, the chairperson of the Lower Limpopo Irrigation Company (RBL), the new processing centre is part of the Lower Limpopo Irrigation and Climate Resilience Project. It is intended to encourage farmers to increase their production and productivity, to boost food security and to promote agro-processing.

The centre was built on an embankment which should resist any future floods in the Limpopo Valley. The area is half a metre above the maximum level reached by the waters during the enormous Limpopo floods of 2000.

“This centre has been set up in an area of three hectares, where it is possible to install greenhouses in the future, to produce seedlings, and demonstration fields for crop varieties”, said Ussivane.

CEPHOL buys from local farmers a range of vegetables, fruits, root crops and beans, which it then processes – it washes, selects, calibrates, packages, stores and conserves the crops.

Ussivane said that, through this type of business, CEPHOL hopes to contribute to vegetable production, by linking farmers to the markets, reducing post-harvest losses through good conservation techniques, and ensuring that vegetables are available on the market throughout the year.

Source: AIM