The award-winning Emseni Farming has recently launched its new food-safe, accredited packhouse, promising even greater success, higher productivity, and more prosperous avocado harvests in the years ahead. This remarkable achievement is a testament to Emseni’s vision, dedication, and commitment to excellence and community upliftment. The new packhouse is an impressive 15,000 sqm facility with strong natural insulation, helping it operate energy-efficiently while maintaining cooler internal temperatures.
Its 7,000 sqm cool room can accommodate different temperature regimes, allowing for sensitive step-down cooling and effective pre-cooling. The temperature-controlled packing area helps maintain an uninterrupted cold chain. The packing line uses state-of-the-art, world-class sorting technology. With dedicated capsicum (sweet peppers) and avocado infeed and packing designs, the eight-lane machine can achieve up to 12 cups per second and up to 36 tons per hour on avocados. Its world-leading camera technology combines nine colour and infrared cameras per lane, capturing up to 300 images of each fruit.
This enables Emseni to supply each customer with the exact quality and quantity of fruit they require, while maximising orchard yield and income for the grower. A proper packhouse is a critical link between the orchard and the market. It is essential in avocado farming because it preserves fruit quality, reduces losses and ensures that the fruit meets market requirements. Emseni’s packhouses began humbly and have grown steadily alongside the enterprise. The company started picking and packing the first avocado harvest in 1986. Because there was no packaging facility, they packed avocados under the trees for the South African market.
In 1995, they started exporting avocados to Great Britain and established a basic packhouse. Later, they built a foodsafe-accredited packhouse, which they renovated and expanded in 2007, and upgraded again in 2025. At the same time, they did the groundwork for the new world-class packhouse, which was opened recently. Emseni started growing avocados in 1983, when it planted its first 300 trees. Over the following decades, the orchards have grown into significant commercial operations. Today, it is a leading avocado producer with about 300 hectares of avocado trees, 150 of which are in full production. This project’s success stems from its investment in sustainable farming.
They reduced irrigation water use by 30-40% through precision drip irrigation; eliminated glyphosate; produced compost and mulch on the farm for the avocado orchards; introduced honey bees for pollination and planted bee-friendly plants among the orchards; established an avocado nursery and used recyclable export cartons What began with six dedicated coworkers planting vegetables to feed the community has grown into a large farm with over 600 employees, with plans for future expansion. An agricultural project with humble roots and a focus on empowering community members delivered a world-class packhouse, growing its future from the ground up!
(Follow the link for more information: https://www.emseni.co.za/our-journey/)