It's a positive season for both papaya and passionfruit according to Emmanuel Adu, managing director for Ghanaian fruit exporter 2k Farms Ltd: "We mainly export papaya and passionfruit. Papaya was very productive for us last year through the holidays. Demand locally has picked up tremendously as well, which has been a boon for our business. When it comes to passionfruit, we did have a few challenges with flower abortion earlier last year, but once we implemented control measures, volumes picked up and local demand for passionfruit is quite high. Our biggest challenge is found in the air freight cost. It's a real drag on our export potential. We try to compensate by lowering our prices to make up the difference for our customers."
For both products, production has been steadily increasing, with 2k Farms actually doubling their harvest for passionfruit this year, Adu explains. "Year over year, we increased our papaya production volumes by 25%, by utilizing an outgrower scheme, with a few farmers to enable us to meet the demand. For passionfruit, we doubled our harvest volumes from last season and all of these were absorbed by the local market. We continue to plant more and hope to plant an additional 20 hectares this year."
Adu states that it's difficult for smaller farms to start with the cultivation of passionfruit, meaning the fruit is mostly produced by larger farms: "The acreage for papaya keeps growing every year. The market demand is there so long as you have the volumes, so lots of farms in Ghana are cultivating it now. It's slightly different for passionfruit. The cost involved in passionfruit cultivation is a barrier to most farmers wanting to enter that space. So it's only large farms like ours who can bear that cost and produce the fruit."
Both products have been profitable, but Adu emphasizes that one of the products is performing exceptionally this season. "Looking at prices specifically, the local prices have been pretty stable for papayas, but the export market has been a bit slow, to the extent that some customers have asked us to discount our prices. Passionfruit, on the other hand, has been a clear winner for farmers. The prices have doubled locally due to scarcity of the product and the prices on the export market have been pretty stable as well."
2k Farms will be exhibiting during Fruit Logistica in Berlin this year: "We've been to Fruit Logistica before, but only as visitors. This will be the first time we're exhibiting ourselves. We are partnering with IPD to help us enter the EU market. We will be at IPD's booth at Hall 25, booth C03, and also at the Ghana booth at Hall 26, booth H81," Adu concludes.
For more information:
Emmanuel Adu
2k Farms Ltd
Tel: +233 20 958 9599
Email: [email protected]
www.2kfarms.com