23 Aug 2020

The National  AGRO Processing (NAPRO) has  managed to stay afloat despite some challenges mostly associated with an impaired supply chain due to COVID-19.

In an interview recently, NAPRO acting operations manager, Ms Mangwane Metlha said that NAPRO-horticulture produce processing plant procured produce from farmers across the SPEDU region.However, it experienced  delay in supply of ingredients from outside the country due to restricted movements as a result of coronavirus..

Ms  Metlha further explained that even beyond the lockdown, they still endured shortage of produce from farmers, especially  root crops such as carrots, onions and beetroot.

She said the reason could be that local farmers preferred producing tomatoes because they could make quick profit, unlike root crops, which took longer to ripe.

She also acknowledged that shortage of produce from the farmers could be that they were conflicted on where to sell their produce, but said NAPRO had partnered with NDB under the supply development programme, which intends to help farmers maximise  yield by diversifying farming practices.

She said the COVID-19 pandemic was a learning curve for NAPRO as they now intended to diversify even more.

“We intend to include more products,” said Ms Metlha said.

She implored Batswana to support NAPRO by buying its products, adding that by so doing they would be helping in developing local farmers, thus creating more employment  and addressing the issue of food security in the country.

She said it was worrisome that some people had the perception that exports were better than locally produced goods, explaining that NAPRO prices might higher than those of competitors due to its newness in the market low capacity.

Ms Mangwane said their products included plain sauce, tomato chili sauce and tomato onion sauce, mixed vegetable pickle (archer) and beetroot.

She revealed that the mixed vegetable pickle was their best seller despite a decrease in sales during lockdown.

“Our products are available at Choppies, Sefalana, Spar and Daily Needs,” said Ms Metlha.

She said the organisation faced financial restrictions that deterred them from utilising all advertising platforms, but highlighted that they usually conducted in-store promotions.

Speaking during the plant tour, NAPRO production officer, Mr Odaka Modongo explained the production process, saying the tomatoes firstly went through a pesticide residue test to ensure the safety of the product.

He said upon passing the test, the tomatoes were taken for sorting and then crushed using a hammer crasher machine.

He said the crushed tomatoes were then taken to another machine that separated the tomato juice from the seeds and peels.

The juice is then collected into a vacuum evaporator machine, where the product is concentrated into paste.

“Our products are given an incubation period of 14 days before being released to the market to monitor quality issues,” said Mr Modongo.

He added that during this period samples were collected and sent to NAFTRC labs for microbial analysis. ends