Carara: Makhanda’s glowing gem

Large trucks laden with crates of red, yellow and orange fruit have become a common sight on the R72 and along the dirt roads in Martindale, Shaw Park and Bathurst as their precious cargo arrives at “Makhanda’s gem”, Carara Agro Processing. The labour-intensive crops of locally grown cherry peppers, sweetheart peppers, patty pans and jalapenos create about 15,000 jobs annually, half being seasonal agricultural jobs and half seasonal processing jobs, with 50 permanent staff across the group. During harvesting season, which runs from February to May, there can be upwards of 300 staff on some of the bigger local farms around Makhanda picking fruit per day, with roughly 10 people harvesting per hectare.

The fruit, with their bright colours and beautiful textures, shapes and flavours, grown in the Eastern Cape soil, form part of a range of dishes and antipasti menus enjoyed by thousands around the world, even as far afield as the UK, US, Australia, UAE, Israel and EU countries like Germany, France, Belgium, Norway, Holland, Greece and Poland. “It’s amazing to think they all come from Makhanda,” Carara MD Mike Duxbury said. “We set out to be recognised as a world-class organization and I think we meet that.

“But we cannot be complacent. We must always adapt and change with global trends.” Since its inception in 2004, Carara’s growth has been exponential, with a footprint now extending across southern Africa, into Zimbabwe, Zambia and Kwa-Zulu Natal. For Duxbury, who has headed up the business since its humble beginnings in 2004, creating jobs has been a huge benefit of expansion.

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The business now includes nine outgrower operations: three in Zimbabwe, four in Zambia, two in the Eastern Cape, a second processing factory in Ladysmith, eleven packsheds across three countries, and 50 farmers across three countries growing approximately 600 to 700 hectares of the intensive crops. The outgrower facilities complete the first step of the processing, putting the fruit in salt brine before sending it on to the Makhanda processing plant. The plant in KZN packages unpasteurised products, while the canning facility in the Eastern Cape processes preservative-free but pasteurised products.

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