Agribusiness
MLIMI is an exciting agribusiness that has its focus on the cultivation of exotic high value specialty crops and on the production of natural, raw consumer products. With over 100 years combined experience in the agribusiness sector MLIMI is driven to create new food production value chains that will ensure sustainable food production to meet consumer demand for the ever growing world population that is expected to be over 14 billion by 2050.
MLIMI Agribusiness was established in 2015 by a young South African entrepreneur who is driven to contribute to the country’s agrarian reform and consequently the resuscitation of the country’s declining rural economy. MLIMI a Xhosa word when loosely translated means “the farmer” is an agribusiness focused on the cultivation of exotic high value specialty crops and on the production of clean natural consumer products that retain the nutritional content of their input raw materials.
At MLIMI Agribusiness we are determined to change the traditional food production value chains that have abandoned many of the country’s fertile rural lands! To utilize the opportunities presented by our need for food (in the next 30 years the agribusiness industry is required to grow by 80% if it is to meet consumer demand for the estimated population of 14 billion) to address our challenges as a country of low economic growth, high levels of unemployment and poverty.
South Africa is 35.2% rural by population metrics and over 50% by area demarcation. Over the past 23 years (1994 to 2017) the number of commercial farmers has dropped from 120 000 to below 35 000 with 15 000 more farmers expected to vacate the industry within the next 15 years. The decay of the country’s rural economy is directly attributable to the decline in farmer numbers which has preceded the country’s low economic growth, high levels of unemployment and high levels of poverty.
As part of our vision at MLIMI we want to convert the poorest areas in the country to become specialist growers of high value crops! We want to lead the country’s agrarian reform and ultimately bring to the world nutrition from the African soil.
To be a leading producer of high value specialty crops and raw consumer products that deliver superior nutritional value
We live to make a difference! To feed the world nutrition from the African soil
MLIMI Agribusiness is a fully owned subsidiary of the thuthula Investment Group:
Cold Press Juicing FacilityRegion: Western Cap
Description: We are in the process of completing fundraising for our cold press juicing facility in Cape Town. The facility is a 5ton per hour processing facility utilizing the latest technology to produce premium raw juice. The Green Juice Company is the name under which our cold press juicing facility will operate under.
Commercial Pomegranate PlantationsRegion: Eastern Cape
Description: The Northern Hemisphere accounts for 95% of the worlds pomegranate production. As one of the healthiest fruits in the world the pomegranate is expected to be the tenth most consumed fruit in the world by 2020. To take advantage of the opportunities the pomegranate presents we are establishing commercial pomegranate plantations in the Eastern Cape planting a minimum of a 100ha of land within the next four years and 500ha within the next 10years.
Commercial Fig PlantationsRegion: Eastern Cape
Description: Figs are grown in relatively small quantities in South Africa. The fruit is eaten fresh, dried, jammed or used as a preserve. We planted a few trees in 2016 to test suitability of a couple of varieties to the growing conditions of the Eastern Cape. We plan to put up various 10ha fig plantations across the province through an out grower program that is designed for emerging farmers who are determined to put the vast amounts of communal arable lands that lay dormant in the country’s poorest areas under production.