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Chankwakwa Ltd
Processing and Distribution
Chankwakwa's selection of sun dried fruit, including the ever-popular mango, provides a healthy option to crisps and sweet snacks. Chankwakwa sun dried tomatoes will give any salad a fresh Mediterranean touch. Chankwakwa Tomato Sauce is perfect for any meal that needs a dash of freshness. There's also the tomato pickle and tomato chutney, the perfect companion to grilled meat. Then there's the hot chilli sauce, not for the faint hearted! Many NGO's prefer Chankwakwa HEPS and it can also be bought in 50 kg bags. Background and history Initially Chankwakwa Farm focused on livestock and cropping but diversified in the year 2000. The desire to maximise on the use of Zambian grown produce resulted in a number of years of tedious experimentation. In 2003, a processing plant was set up and in 2011 Chankwakwa was one of the first Zambian companies to receive HACCP certification by SGS (SANS 10330: 2007). Working with cooperatives Most families in rural Zambia have a number of mango trees on their land but are unable to make any money from the fruit. With this in mind, Chankwakwa started to organise families near the farm into cooperatives to supply mangoes. As demand increased, Chankwakwa ventured out to Luapula province, 700 km from Kabwe, and now works with over 300 registered mango farmers in rural Zambia. The farmers have been trained on how to keep their trees organic; and Chankwakwa buys the mangoes directly from the cooperatives and transports the fruit to the farm to be processed. The fruit is dried using six solar-dryers as well as a large electric dryer. But, as Zambia's electricity is produced by hydro power, the carbon foot print is still very small. The final product, Chankwakwa Sun-dried Mango, is sold country wide and exported to Europe. Chankwakwa is working towards both Fairtrade and Organic (Eco-cert) certification for the company as well as for the cooperatives.Chankwakwa retailers include
- Shoprite (dried fruit only)
- Pick N Pay
- Spar
- Melissa
- Food Lovers' Market
- Castle Supermarket
