Talana Farms produce penetrates SA market
ONALENNA MODIKWA
Staff Writer
SELEBI-PHIKWE: Talana Farms, a major vegetable producer in the Tuli Block, has penetrated the South African market.
The farm made the breakthrough in September, and by the end of October the farm had already exported 41,156 bags of onions to South Africa, mainly Johannesburg. Talana's sales manager, Nemanya Radovanovich, was this week elated about the new development and stressed that it is for the first time in their history that locally- produced vegetable made their way onto the international market.
"Neighbouring South Africa is usually the main supplier of the international market,"Radovanovich said. "That we have penetrated this market says a lot about our products."
He added that for the first 20 days of onion sales, Botswana-produced onions were the best in the market in South Africa. "We tried the same move with our tomatoes but we could not achieve anticipated results because the South African market is already overwhelmed with its local supplies." Radovanovich said.
Talana Farms is currently formulating strategies to ensure that the surplus of crop is exported to South Africa. Radovanovich said they are preparing for a high vegetable demand during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and have similar plans for Namibia and Zambia.
He praised the support they continue to receive from local businesses. To move closer to its customers, Talana Farms has hired a warehouse in Selebi-Phikwe from where they cover a large part of Botswana. Prior to this, customers had to travel over 100 kilometres from Selebi-Phikwe to Talana.
Radovanovich said they recently donated vegetables worth P35, 000 to destitute persons in the Bobirwa sub-district under their corporate social responsibility.
