Since the launch of the All Gold Tomato Sauce brand in 1908, Africa’s largest fast-moving consumer goods manufacturer Tiger Brands has grown to support two prominent tomato-growing regions in the country, including small-scale farmers operating in these areas.

With the company procuring between 70 000 t/y and 100 000 t/y of tomatoes, it is one of the top players in the South African tomato value chain.

The All Gold brand is valued at R1-billion in the R10-billion sauce and condiments segment.

The group is committed to supporting local production and procuring produce locally; however, in instances of disease outbreak or shortages, the company looks to other African countries for supply before considering imports from elsewhere in the world.

Tiger Brands’ domestic tomato supply chain extends from two geographical tomato-growing areas – Musina, in Limpopo, and Lutzville, in the Western Cape.

The company operates two tomato processing plants in these regions, which grade, sort, cook and refine tomatoes to a paste that is transported to a plant in Boksburg, Gauteng, for further processing and packaging.

Tiger Brands determined the need for a transformed tomato supply chain in 2018 and started providing enterprise development support to small-scale farmers, including in the form of technical knowledge-sharing and bonus payments for farmers meeting production targets.

The company invests in seedling development, with 29-million seeds having been used last year valued at R13-million, as an effort to assist farmers with this upfront cost. Tiger Brands also provides “advance cash” to farmers valued at 10% of their contracts to support production, while subsiding transport costs.

Tiger Brands culinary MD Dumo Mfini says black farmers, in particular, have historically not been capacitated with technical skills to meet the required product quality.

He adds that many small-scale farmers struggle with access to market, with Tiger Brands providing letters of intent to take up all output from these farmers to help them gain market access.

Tiger Brands has spent more than R100-million on supporting farmers and aggregators in the market and reviews supply contracts on a yearly basis to ensure fair and equitable terms for the company and producers.

Tiger Brands agricultural manager Sipho Modiba says the company is involved in the supply chain from the breeding of seeds through to harvesting.

He explains that farmers supplying tomatoes to the company are paid according to the sugar content of the produce. This is measured according to a Brix rating, with tomatoes averaging a rating of between 5.5 and 8. Tomatoes outside of this range are rejected for tomato paste processing, but are processed as animal feed.

South Africa has about 695 tomato producers in the commercial and emerging agriculture sectors, to which the emerging farmer sector only contributes 5% of production.

More than 100 farmers grow and supply tomatoes to Tiger Brands in Musina, comprising 38 commercial farmers and 70 small-scale farmers. In turn, these farmers employ about 600 people on a permanent basis and 4 000 on a seasonal basis.

The tomato harvest season runs from April to September in Musina, while the Lutzville harvest season spans from January to May.

The Musina processing plant processes about 500 t of tomatoes a day, or 3 000 t of tomatoes a week.

Tiger Brands is ensuring that small-scale farmers’ contribution to the country’s 600 000 t/y of tomato production continues to grow, while solidifying local supply to its beloved All Gold brand.

*Tiger Brands hosted Engineering News on a Heritage Tour of its tomato supply chain activities in Musina.