Thai tulips from SA to Amsterdam

With three glass greenhouses covering 160,000m², it provides the largest climate-controlled growing area under glass and there is room to expand it by another 90ha.

The facility also includes Dube AgriLab - a tissue culture laboratory - three greenhouse-dedicated pack-houses, a distribution centre and a nursery.

"Dube AgriZone is the most advanced farming operation on the continent and our intention is to use these exceptional facilities to break into the international market," says AgriZone executive Mlibo Bantwini.

It has been three years since start-up and the AgriZone has already had its first taste of international success. It signed a 900,000 ton deal with Dutch flower producer KP Holland to supply Thai tulips to Amsterdam in winter.

The first five trial consignments have been successfully exported and favourably received by KP Holland and production is projected to reach 30,000 flowers a week.

Three major tenants

The AgriZone has three major tenants - Qutom Farms, producing red and yellow peppers, cherry tomatoes and cucumbers; Carmel Nursery, which grows pot plants and cut flowers; and Farmwise, which processes and packages salad and a range of other fresh produce for local retailers. Using Dube TradePort's facilities, these tenants are expanding their markets and production.

The SA Sugar Research Institute uses the AgriLab facility to produce the Nova Cane variety of sugar cane for local farmers. The variety suits KwaZulu-Natal's conditions.

Dube TradePort is also keen to produce medicinal plants and has approached the University of KwaZulu-Natal for assistance with their research, says Bantwini.

The tulips are an excellent example of the benefit of the integration of the various operating zones and the logistics platform offered by Dube TradePort.

The plants are cultivated in the AgriLab laboratory under sterile conditions, providing better quality disease-free plants. The bulbs are grown in the greenhouses under climate-controlled conditions. The cut flowers are packaged, loaded in the AiRoad refrigerated trucks in the distribution centre, cleared for export at the TradeZone, taken to the nearby King Shaka International Airport, flown to Dubai and then to Amsterdam.

In keeping with the green philosophy of Dube TradePort, the AgriZone harvests rainwater that provides 80% of the irrigation in the greenhouses. There is a water treatment works on site and a rooftop solar panel system that produces 675kW/h of power.

Technology-intensive management systems benefit the speed, yield and quality of agricultural production. And a dedicated team of more than 200 staff ensures an uninterrupted agricultural process from producer to end-user.

An intensive hydroponic programme combined with a technologically advanced climate operating system ensures that produce yields are twice those achieved with traditional growing methods.

Three pack houses provide cold-room facilities.

Notching up another first for KZN is the 4,000m² high-care fresh produce distribution centre. This distributes fresh produce grown within the AgriZone and on behalf of farmers in the area surrounding Dube TradePort. A series of ripening rooms ripen pre-harvested produce for specific consumer demand.

"Seasonality is outdated. Retailers and consumers want fresh produce all year around and this we can achieve with our AgriZone facilities," says Bantwini.

Source: Financial Mail via I-Net Bridge