Credit: ZZ2 Lydenburg
Credit: ZZ2 Lydenburg and Louis Trichardt and sells via the Magnifisan brand. VKB also has eight silos and 29 retail outlets in the Limpopo region. Afgri, headquarted in Pretoria, has a wide reach and an extensive range of services and products including Lemang Agricultural Services, a financing and training vehicle for new farmers that is part of AFGRI Agri Services. The goal of Lemang is to develop historically-disadvantaged farmers and small suppliers to be full participants in the commercial agricultural value chain. Marula A festival, an industrial park, the source of a world-famous liqueur and a centuries-old beer recipe – and now the fruit of the marula tree is inspiring an associate professor at the University of Limpopo to make a marula fruit wine. The women of Limpopo have been making beer from marula fruit for longer than records exist. They continue to make it in large quantities every year in February at the time of the Marula Festival, a major contribution to the arts and culture and tourism calendar. Distell makes and distributes Amarula cream liqueur around the world. The Limpopo Department of Economic Development and Tourism (LEDET) wants to see the University of Limpopo doing ONLINE RESOURCES Agro-Food Technology Station, Limpopo University: www.ul.ac.za Citrus Growers Association: www.cga.co.za Cotton South Africa: www.cottonsa.org.za Hortgro (Deciduous Fruit Producers): www.hortgro.co.za Macadamias South Africa: www.samac.org.za South African Subtropical Growers’ Association: www.subtrop.co.za more research on the possible uses for the fruit, including jams and cosmetics. To that end, a Marula Industrial Hub at Phalaborwa is envisaged that will provide a platform to further exploit the tasty marula fruit, which has a high vitamin C content and is much loved by elephants. Facilities at the hub will include a centre for research and processing facilities to create more value from the raw product. Advisors will be available to help smallscale farmers and SMMEs enter the formal economy. One researcher already underway is Professor Kgabo Moganedi. Drawing on timehonoured (and organic) fermentation processes, Moganedi has created a clear alcoholic beverage and is reported to be almost ready to scale up production. The project has received funding from National Research Foundation (NRF) under the Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and from the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA). ■ LIMPOPO BUSINESS 2021/22 30
