Capespan Namibia and the Namibia Grape Company (NGC) have a long-standing partnership to build and maintain a world-class production facility in Aussenkehr, Namibia, and this has been boosted by the completion of a water pipeline project.
The farming operation of 475ha of table grapes offers Capespan’s global fruit customers access to early and high quality grapes from Southern Africa.
Apart from the advantage of Namibian vineyards being pest- and disease-free, usually not a drop of rain falls during the harvest. While this does reinforce the region’s ideal dessert climate for grapes, it also results in greater production challenges when it comes to nourishment of the soil and access to water.
Production expansion over the past three years necessitated increased access to water from the Orange River, so Capespan Namibia embarked on a water pipeline project and successfully completed it in December 2016.
The new pipeline cost R40m, is 6km long, and can relay 3,400 cubic metres per hour with the capacity to irrigate 540ha of table grapes. The system accommodates an extra 20 per cent of spare capacity for future growth.
The NGC is one of Capespan Farm’s 16 production units throughout Southern Africa and annually produces approximately 1.7m cartons of grapes.
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