Tomato giant ZZ2 enters agreement with Western Cape farmers to produce almonds

South Africa’s biggest farming company and tomato producer, ZZ2, has recently entered into agreements with Western Cape farmers to produce almonds.

ZZ2 has partnered with the farming community in the Western Cape through its subsidiary, Cape Almonds as per the latest media reports.

The company, ZZ2, announced that as many as 50 tonnes of locally-grown almonds will be available under the Al Monde brand at South Africa’s various fresh produce markets. 

Headquartered in Limpopo, ZZ2 says it has planted around 700 hectares of Independence almond trees across the Western Cape province.

The Al Monde almonds are now sold raw and not roasted, salted, or treated in any way and it’s announced that ZZ2 and Cape Almonds began creating Al Monde four years ago, two years before Cape Almonds was granted exclusive rights to cultivate “Independence Almonds”- a cultivar developed by Californian breeders Zaiger’s Inc. 

Head of marketing for the newly convened South African Almond Association Dan Coetzee said the launch of the local almonds comes at a time when South Africa faces dumping of the US market’s surplus nuts.

Moneyweb published that California is the world’s largest producer of nuts and produces 80% of the total.

“Due to the oversupply of almonds in the US, South Africa is getting flooded with cheap poor-quality stock. As an association, our main aim is to protect producers and the almond market as a whole and to ensure South African consumers get better quality local almonds at competitive prices,” Coetzee said.

“Until now, very few almonds sold in South Africa are grown locally. The local product will therefore be fresher with a much lower carbon footprint and will be supporting local.”

Consumers knowing they are buying fresh products, as opposed to 6-month to 12-month-old nuts arriving from California, will be a significant factor in their purchasing decision, Coetzee said. 

ZZ2 also expressed hopes that the maturation of the local almond industry will support and create new industries from the by-products of the raw nuts, which may not suitable for packaging.

“…Those that are chipped or broken in half will be sold to third parties. In time, this will develop into a burgeoning by-product industry producing almond flour and almond milk,” the company said.

Main Image: ZZ2 Farming/Radio 702