Women have special touch on grapes-Nuunyango
A majority 60% of the workers employed at the Namibia Grape Company are women, managing director, Gideon Nuunyango has revealed.
Nuunyango in an interview with Nampa on Friday said the reason why more women are employed than men, is because grapes are soft fruits and need gentle hands to prune and pack them, and women are gentle and do a better job than men.
“We need soft hands to handle grapes and women do it right, especially in the vineyards and when it comes to packing,” he said.
He said the company currently employs 300 permanent workers and close to 1 200 seasonal workers and 1 500 workers during harvesting time, usually in November each year.
The project was established in 1999 and falls under the Namibia Development Corporation (NDC).
Nuunyango enclosed that 95% of grapes produced at the Aussenkehr farm are exported to the European market and only 5% are sold in Africa, including Namibia.
There are nine companies that farm with grapes and Nuunyango said 31 500 tons of grapes are produced of which 29 000 tons are exported to Europe.
“We do not have a big market here in Namibia, grapes are expensive fruits. It is a product not many people are willing to buy, but we are willing to supply Namibia first,” he said.
Namibia Grape Company currently farms table grapes on 456 hectares and the grapes include green, black and red grapes.
Nuunyango noted that the government must avail land, water and capital to farmers who are willing and able to produce food within the country to improve food security and also create employment.
“We can produce enough food if the government can put more effort in providing land, water and capital to those who want to farm; we can produce our own food and also export it,” he added.
-Nampa
“We need soft hands to handle grapes and women do it right, especially in the vineyards and when it comes to packing,” he said.
He said the company currently employs 300 permanent workers and close to 1 200 seasonal workers and 1 500 workers during harvesting time, usually in November each year.
The project was established in 1999 and falls under the Namibia Development Corporation (NDC).
Nuunyango enclosed that 95% of grapes produced at the Aussenkehr farm are exported to the European market and only 5% are sold in Africa, including Namibia.
There are nine companies that farm with grapes and Nuunyango said 31 500 tons of grapes are produced of which 29 000 tons are exported to Europe.
“We do not have a big market here in Namibia, grapes are expensive fruits. It is a product not many people are willing to buy, but we are willing to supply Namibia first,” he said.
Namibia Grape Company currently farms table grapes on 456 hectares and the grapes include green, black and red grapes.
Nuunyango noted that the government must avail land, water and capital to farmers who are willing and able to produce food within the country to improve food security and also create employment.
“We can produce enough food if the government can put more effort in providing land, water and capital to those who want to farm; we can produce our own food and also export it,” he added.
-Nampa
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