A businessman in Afghanistan has invested $5 million in establishing a standard plant to process and package fruits in southern Kandahar province. The factory is the first of its kind in the country.
Fruits like grapes, pomegranates and others are being packaged at the “Kinda Fruit Factory” in the Kandahar industrial park.
The factory this year exported grapes to India and the UAE where the products were sold for double the price.
The Kinda Fruity Factory’s owner, Saaduddin Saeed, told Pajhwok Afghan News, during an interview, that fresh fruits, including grape, pomegranate, fig, apricot and others, were widely produced in Kandahar province, but there were many issues in exporting them.
He said one of the problems was a lack of standard facilities to pack fruits and as a result, the bulk of fruits were wasted and their quality decreased and couldn’t be sold for a reasonable price in foreign markets.
According to him, international standards were considered in establishing the factory to package, provide free cooling services for grapes, pomegranates, figs, apricots, apples and other fruits.
Another facility at the factory, to improve pomegranate seeds and juicing, would be soon activated and launched this year. The factory’s new facility would enable it to export fresh, peeled pomegranates seeds and processed juice, besides packaged pomegranates.
He hoped exports from the factory would go to European countries and the US as well.
