Katete District Commissioner Malan Zimba has disclosed that works on the construction of the Katete Fruit Processing plant are progressing well and all works will be completed in the next one month.
Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Zimba said the plant would be processing fruits such as mangoes, oranges, guavas, watermelons and tomatoes that will be used to produce tomato sauce among other fruits.
Zimba explained that this would create direct employment for the farmers, as it will be an all year round project and the small-scale farmers will be able to buy irrigation materials which will enable them grow their crops all year round once they begin supplying their produce to the company throughout the year.
He mentioned that the company would employ over 250 people for a start adding that the number will keep on increasing as the demand grows which means the livelihoods of many people will change, as the benefits will cut across many sectors.
The District Commissioner mentioned that the work would have been completed earlier but the team working on the construction of the plant had gone to Mwinilunga, North Western province to complete the works on the Kalene Hills Fruit Processing Company, which was, was commissioned on 27 July 2022.
“The works are almost done, we are at 99%, very soon they will be handing it over. The machinery was already fit, just connecting machines to the grid is what is remaining, not the actual construction works, the actual construction works are done, it’s just the fitting of electricals”, he said.
