Having made the strategic decision to secure resources and due to the resulting backward integration, Chimaco SA, the Nicaraguan sister of Swiss company Frutco AG has succeeded in successfully cultivating 60 ha of organic passion fruit of the genetically protected ‘CHIMACO VARIETY’ on its 200-ha farm ‘Gemasteppe’.
Professional and sustainable cultivation
In addition, Chimaco SA agronomists manage the company's own demo plantation, on which contract farmers are trained in the proper and sustainable cultivation and care of the plants within the framework of conventional passion fruit cultivation. They support the growers with technical know-how and agricultural expertise throughout the entire duration of the cooperation. Currently, 200 ha of sustainably cultivated fruit (60 ha of which are organic) are available for processing.
Juan Ramirez with the first fruits of the 'Chimaco Variety'
In the medium term, this will be expanded to approx. 1,000 ha, with the Swiss group guaranteeing to purchase 100% of the growers’ produce. The area under cultivation will always be a mix of the group's own farmland and third-party, medium-sized growers. This, together with the company's own processing of the fruit by Frutco de las Americas SA in Chinandega, fully ensures the maintenance of a fully sustainable supply chain and guarantees stable prices over several years.
Frutco de las Americas SA’s new factory building -a 100% subsidiary of our holding CT Finance AG- has been completed and is located in a duty-free zone directly in the centre of the cultivation area, near the Pacific port of Puerto Corinto. The work on the interior is in full swing. The fully-automated Rossi&Catelli production plant by CFT in Parma will be shipped to Nicaragua in early 2019. Frutco de las Americas SA is set to start production in Q2 of 2019.
Cultivation of the protected Chimaco Variety.
CT Finance AG's entire investment in Nicaragua, farms and processing, was awarded the ‘Runner Up’ for ‘Best Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean’ by the AIM ‘Annual Investment Meeting’ in Dubai in April 2018 and is on track with just a slight delay.
For more informationen:
Frutco AG - Obst- und Gemüseverarbeitung
Ansprechpartner: Bianca Hinrichs
Adresse: Weite G. 26, 5400 Baden, Schweiz
Telefon: +41 62 849 99 60
bianca.hinrichs@frutco.de
www.frutco.ch