Berries: Earning Profits And Changing Lives

Dr Birgit Andrag, a former dentist, runs a berry processing enterprise with her husband, Paul, on their family farm, By den Weg, near Stellenbosch in the Western Cape. What started out as a hobby has expanded into a steadily growing packing and processing business, which has empowered their farmworkers. Jeandré du Preez reports.

- Jeandre du Preez

The Andrag family has been cultivating vineyards on By den Weg, in the Vlottenburg area near Stellenbosch, for four generations.

In 1994, Birgit and her husband, Paul, looked at ways to diversify their business and provide their female employees with full-time employment. Some of these women were temporary workers; others were the wives of farmworkers. Because Birgit enjoyed making blueberry jam, she and Paul decided to expand this activity to include processing, packaging and marketing of the fruit.

Considerable work and experimentation followed, and their enthusiasm and commitment has paid off handsomely. Within three years, various other berry varieties had been introduced – in order to ensure a year-round supply of berries – and they had converted one of the farmsteads into a berry packing and agri-processing facility. Since then, growth and production have continued to grow.

Today, the Berry Flavours facility packages fresh and frozen berries, processes products such as fruit concentrates and confectionery, and produces ready-to-eat fruit servings. It supplies national retailers such as Pick n Pay and Spar.

FLEXIBILITY

The company keeps its processing lines as flexible as possible so that it can adapt swiftly to new market trends.

“About 80% of our products are made for customers under their own labels; the balance is sold under the By den Weg brand,” explains Birgit.

The plants are grown on 10ha in open lands and undercover. Generally, 50t of berries are harvested per season. The bulk of this is sold fresh and the rest is frozen, processed or packed as value-added products in the Berry Flavours processing facility.