A South African Sharonfruit farm has donated a consignment of fruit to the charity Foodbank for the second year running.
Team leader Charlene Abrahams of the Sharonfruit farm, Swellen Sharon, near Buffeljagsrivier in the Southern Cape, handed over the first of the consignment to Foodbank, for distribution to needy, old and sick people in South Africa.
“This is our fruit and we are so grateful that we can also help others,” said Abrahams, who was supervising her picking team in the orchards when she handed the first fruit to the Foodbank’s food procurement manager, Elton Leite.
This is the second year that South Africa’s Sharonfruit industry has decided to donate a substantial volume of fruit to institutions caring for under-privileged and needy people in South Africa.
The new season got underway recently and will last until August, with an anticipated 200 tonnes of fruit to be distributed during this period.
The donation of fruit is joint project between the Sharonfruit growers, the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation and the recently established Foodbank. The fruit originates from all over the Western and Southern Cape - the only region in the southern hemisphere where Sharonfruit is grown.
Although presently in the US on a busy visiting schedule, Archbishop Desmond Tutu took time out to express his joy at the news.
He said: “This is another enormous and generous contribution which warms my heart. Some of this fruit comes from farms where workers recently became co-owners and it offers people who are sick and hungry the nourishment they so desperately need. We know that poor people are increasingly struggling to put food on the table. The people who share this fruit with them are ordinary families from our country’s rural community who inspire all of us.”
Foodbank will use the fruit in its Lunch Buddy Programme, which is aimed at providing needy pupils at a number of Western Cape schools with a healthy lunch each day. Leite said: “Children in a privileged situation brings an extra lunch packet to school every day and we collect this, add fruit and a healthy soft drink, and then deliver it to children at more than 30 schools who are in desperately need of nutrition.”
Cornie Swart of South Africa’s Sharon Fruit Association (SFOSA) said: “The South African Sharonfruit industry is rapidly coming of age and the 2009 crop could surpass 10,000 tonnes for the first time. We expect to ship some 7,500t this year, with sales expanding rapidly around the world.”
A key aspect of the development of Sharonfruit in South Africa is community involvement and support for projects that promote shareholding for workers in the export business. A number of black empowerment projects are being developed around the Sharonfruit business.
