Pioneering first fruit drying house in Mozambique

A colonial inheritance from the Ihambane region in Mozambique consists of thousands of hectares of neglected coconut and mango plantations. The trees are still upright, the local population harvests the fruit for their own use, and for two years now, they’ve sold their harvest to AfriFruta as well. The company dries the tropical fruit and ships the final product to Europe.

“Nothing was done with a large share of the fruit growing on trees in Inhambane,” says Ties Minnen of AfriFruta. “The locals all have their own trees, which they harvest for personal use or for roadside selling. That’s why we built a drying house there.” The company buys the fruit from the locals, who deliver the fruit to the drying house or one of the two collection points in the region. “Besides, we have our own harvesting team that harvests the fruit. That way, we can make our own agreements with the growers, and we harvest our own fruit.”

The coconuts have been processed for some years now, but this season marks the first year mangoes and pineapple are dried. In total, the drying house processes more than 1,000 tonnes of fruit. During the winter months, November to March, primarily pineapple and mango are dried. In the summer months supply mostly consists of coconuts. These coconuts are processed into various products, including organic coconut oil, flakes and flour. South African drying rooms are used for the drying. The fruit is peeled and cut into pieces. The mango and pineapple are then placed in the drying room for 14 to 18 hours.

About 5,000 people in the region supply their harvest to the drying house. That number will be increased to 10,000 and then to 15,000 suppliers. “We carefully select the fruit before it enters the dryer and when it’s taken from the dryer,” Ties says. That way, quality differences between the products of the large number of suppliers is absorbed. “The benefit of drying is that we can also remove a bad bit of mango and still be able to process the fruit,” he continues. “We prefer working with a team and in cooperation with the local population to pick the fruit, so that the fruit’s quality can be monitored better.”

The project closely resembles a development project because of this, but there are clear differences. “Before I started working for AfriFruta, I advised companies about impact projects in Africa, and this project was by far the project with the most impact,” Ties says. The number of people profiting from the drying house is enormous. Besides the growers who supply the fruit, the drying house also offers employment.

“It’s true pioneering work. Mozambique has no other projects that are similar,” he continues. “It’s the first and only commercial production facility in this sector in the country.” It’s also pioneering work in the field of labour. Only ten per cent of the staff has had a previous job. “Some workers aren’t familiar with the idea of a working day, that it should last about eight hours, and that they’re not supposed to just leave suddenly. These are the kinds of things we have to explain to them.”

Ties emphasises that the company’s approach is professional. Daily management in Mozambique is in hands of Jaco le Roux and Koos van der Merwe. The two South Africans have won their spurs working for large agro-processing companies, including Westfalia. Besides, the company has the necessary certificates that guarantee the quality of the products. “It’s not always easy to do business in Mozambique, but Jaco and Koos solve everything and the local government is a major supporter of AfriFruta.”

A large part of the assortment is marketed as organic. After the Portuguese left the coconut and mango trees, the plantations were neglected. “The harvest is wild pick, and therefore organic,” Ties explains. That’s why it isn’t necessary to provide thousands of suppliers with organic certificates.

Ties takes care of marketing within Europe. “We sell part of the products in Mozambique and South Africa. This season, we also started exporting to Europe,” he says. “We’re the only supplier of organic dried fruit in Africa in the Southern Hemisphere.” This unique position, with its reversed seasonal pattern compared to West Africa, means the company is an interesting partner. “The Netherlands and Germany are fairly large markets. Consumers eat the dried coconut and pineapple as a snack, instead of as sweets. The organic market in particular is rapidly growing. I’m working hard to build relationships, by visiting fairs such as Anuga, BioFach and the Bio-Fair, among other things. I am the bridge to European markets,” Ties continues. “That can be very difficult for an African company. The premium markets of Western Europe are the ones we should be active on. Fortunately, the flavour, texture and colour of our Mozambican dried mangoes are excellent, and the product is very well received.”