SAKHILE MOKOENA, Hazyview | Tuesday
IN a sweltering shed in the sub-tropical hills of Mpumalanga’s Lowveld, a farmer called Daan Jacobs and 12 workers sweat over avocados.
They are turning the creamy fruit into an oil that is used in beauty products for women in the United States and Japan.
“Our products are in high demand overseas where they are used to make products we don’t make here,” says the burly Jacobs, who is the Managing Director of Dagama Avocado Industry in Kiepersol near Hazyview.
In South Africa, the oil is used for cooking or to make bath soap, which are sold at a small stall at Dagama.
The leftover skins and pips are turned into fertilizer for local farmers.
One worker, Patrick Mkhabela, said he had tried the cooking oil and found it to be “very good”.
“The problem is it is very expensive and many people can’t afford it,” he lamented. “That is one of the reasons we do not have many customers in the country.”
He said the refining costs were high, contributing to the price of the oil.
Avocados are bought from local farmers and stored in large containers to ripen. They are then pressed to release the oil, which is stored in containers for six weeks before it is refined and sold.
At Dagama, avo soap comes out in a jelly form and is shipped to Johannesburg where it is made solid and sold nationally.
Dagama is one of only two avocado processing industries in the country. The other is in Tzaneen.
Jacobs said Africa had rich agricultural potential, but just needed the creativity of its people.
He said he opened a branch in Kenya, where avocados were abundant, but not properly marketed.
“The people don’t know what to do with the avos and end up throwing them in the streets,” he said.
He hopes that by expanding his business, he will be able to create more jobs.
At the moment, Dagama employs seven people full time and has five casual workers. – African Eye News Service