Our first project is the africaJUICE Tibila SC plantation in the Oromia region of Ethiopia, some 150 km to the south-east of the capital Addis Ababa. The project involves a capital investment of around €12 million to transform a former state-owned fruit farm to create a high technology modern tropical fruit plantation and build a new processing facility, all operating under Fair Trade principles.

Our plan is to plant 600 hectares of yellow passion fruit and 300 hectares of mango and 300 ha other tropical fruits such as papaya and avocado over a period of four years. At the same time we will support the development of over 1,200 hectares of outgrowers (contract farmers) to supplement the supply and extend community participation. Our new fruit processing facility will produce pure juices, concentrates and purees which will be transported to market via established export routes. First juice is produced in November 2010 with production reaching over 15,000 tonnes per annum by 2015.

The Upper Awash valley, where the Tibila plantation is located in Ethiopia, offers climatic conditions that are close to optimum for growing tropical fruits, especially passion fruit. The area receives low rainfall but has significant ground and river water sources which, through the application of drip irrigation, provide a highly reliable and controllable supply of water to the plantations. This results in a high quality and reliable quantity of product.

We have designed the Tibila farm to be a model of sustainable development. For more details please consult the following pdf documents: africaJUICE Overview and africaJUICE Outgrower Incubator Project.