Etunda starts growing asparagus

White asparagus, a high-value export crop, has been planted on 30 hectares of land at the Etunda Green Scheme irrigation project near Ruacana in the Omusati Region.The farm manager at Etunda, Albertus Viljoen, says the project is progressing well. Last year the agriculture ministry and a Spanish company, Industrias Alimentarias de Navarra (IAN), signed a partnership agreement on a ten-year asparagus agro-processing project. The agreement provides for the Spanish company to grow 60 hectares of white asparagus at Etunda.“We have already planted 30 hectares in January and the plants are growing well. For the other 30 hectares we are busy with soil preparation and we are planning to plant in March this year. So far everything is going according to plan,” Viljoen says.He says there have been a few challenges and difficulties, but they did not hinder the planting process.The project started in July last year with the soil preparation, which was followed by the installation of a drip irrigation system, which is the most efficient way to utilise water and to grow asparagus in the region's hot climate.In October last year, Nampa quoted the then agriculture minister John Mutorwa as saying that the project was the result of collaborative efforts that started in 2015, when the company ran some trials on asparagus production at the ministry's Omahenene Research Station.Speaking at the signing of the agreement with IAN, Mutorwa said the results of the trials were promising, hence the collective decision to proceed with the project.Mutorwa said the project required a capital investment of about N$8.8 million to adapt the existing irrigation system at the government-owned Etunda Green Scheme project, plus N$25 million for building a processing factory at Ruacana.He said during the first phase of production at least 175 jobs would be created, of which 25 would be permanent.Phase two of the project will see 120 people employed.“Given that the substantial part of the harvest will be exported, the project is geared to generate much-needed foreign currency for the country,” Mutorwa said.Speaking at the same event, a representative of IAN, Carlos Lertxundi, said the project would be a first in Africa. The company has similar projects in South America, Europe and Asia.Lertxundi said the 60 hectares would produce 460 tons of asparagus a year, most of which would be exported. Some would be sold locally, depending on the availability of interested distributors.He added that the processing plant would be fully operational by December 2018 if everything went as planned.ILENI NANDJATO

Etunda starts growing asparagus

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-23

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Etunda starts growing asparagus

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-23

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