TEDA has identified a potential opportunity to establish an agro-processing hub within the City of Tshwane (CoT). Agriculture and agro-processing has an important role to play in the advancement of economic development in the continent country, province and City, further seeking to address matters of food security.

The preliminary site identified is in Region 5 on city owned property. It is anticipated that the envisaged hub will capitalise on the large tracts of available farm land in the City, to create a facility that will lead to significant job creation and economic development.

The proposed Tshwane Agro-processing facility will only focus on food and beverages category as per International Standards Industrial Classification (ISIC, 2013). A combination of mass food processing and niche food processing opportunities, wherein nine food processing line opportunities were identified;

a. Drying of fresh produce such as tomato, banana, prune, mango, apricot, apple, nectarine, berries, pear, figs and grapes.
b. Canning of fresh produce such as peach, guava, pineapple, cherry, granadilla, sweet-corn, peas, beans, mushroom, tomato and onion.
c. Bottling of fresh produce such as beetroot, garlic, ginger, carrot, asparagus, figs and onion.
d. Juicing of fresh produce such as mango, pomegranate, beetroot, strawberry, mixed berries, butternut, carrot, cherry, coconut, grapefruit, prune, plum and prickly pear.
e. Pastes and/or purees from fresh produce such as tomato, herbs, butternut, spinach, sweet potato, apple, marrow, peach, banana, pear, apricot and avocado.
f. Powdering of fresh produce such as celery, potato, tomato, onion, leek, mushroom, sweet potato, paprika, apricot, grape and strawberry.
g. Mixing and packaging of fresh produce such as various vegetables, berries and nuts.
h. Production of yoghurt from various fresh fruit.
i. Production of jams and chutneys from fresh fruit such as apricot, figs, peach, mango, raspberries and strawberries.

It is envisaged that these opportunities will be featured or contained in one building structure as typically shown in figure 2 below. The facility will include some value added service such food laboratory, training centre and offices.

The project delivery strategy is public-private partnerships (PPP). The project is registered as a PPP with National Treasury - Republic of South African – Government Technical Advisory Centre (GTAC). The project will be guided by municipal PPP regulations until implementation. The project is at project planning phase as guided by TEDA – PPM Project Management Framework. The detailed feasibility study and business plan of the project is completed. These studies produced will be aligned to the PPP feasibility study requirements currently underway.

The project is estimated valued at R1.04 billion. The impact of the project is the gross value add (GVA) R1.7 billion, with job creation of 350 (50 temporary and 300 permanent).