Western Cape honeybush tea cooperative receives tea-bagging machine from national development agency
The Western Cape Honeybush Tea Cooperative (WCHTC) in Oudtshoorn, will now be able to produce 2000 honeybush tea bags per hour with grant funding of R202 962, 35 from the National Development Agency (NDA) that has enabled the purchase of a tea bag packaging machine.
This is a big breakthrough for the Cooperative. Up to this point, we were only able to process the honeybush tea and package it in sealable small plastic bags. Now we will be able to bag 2mg per tea bag which we will package in boxes containing 40 tea bags for retail price of R59, 00. This will enable us to create more jobs and grow the Cooperative by providing the tea bagging services to other tea-makers who do not have the machine”, says Mr Raoul du Toit, Director at WCHTC. The tea bag machine measures and seals precise quantity of the tea, cuts to size and produces a completed tea bag.
Honeybush tea is a herbal tea indigenous to South Africa and grown in the mountains, mostly along the Western and Eastern Cape coastal regions. WCHTC grows their own tea along the Swartberg mountain range – the honeybush tea is harvested, processed (including boiling), sweating and shredding and later bagged and packaged. Honeybush tea has several health benefits including acting as an antioxidant and is said to be effective for weigh loss.
The Cooperative was registered by six members in 2016 as a vehicle to produce tea and address the high unemployment rate within the small community of Oudtshoorn in the Eden District. WCHTC belongs to the Honeybush Tea Association and hopes to export the honeybush to other countries, once firmly established within the local markets including retail stores, places of accommodation, restaurants and also the Garden Route of the Western Cape.
The NDA is a poverty eradication entity of government that seeks to empower civil society organisations through formalisation, capacity building, grant funding and market linkages. The purchase of this machine will unlock the potential of WCHTC to move it to the next point of the business where they can now, instead of outsourcing, bag and package their own honeybush tea. This will not only birth a proudly South African product by will also create jobs and lends itself to replication and a viable actor in the economy. The tea bag packing machine will serve as catalyst to selling the product on the local and international market” says Mr Ardiel Soeker, NDA Western Cape Provincial Manager.
The honeybush tea industry in South Africa is an important economic growth sector and has been earmarked by government for the industrialisation of indigenous medicinal and aromatic plants, to create employment opportunities in previously disadvantaged communities by harnessing their indigenous knowledge systems to create economic value.
WCHTC participates in local, regional and international exhibitions to market the honeybush tea, including Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees and recently they appeared at the Saitex Event at Gallagher Estate in Midrand, Gauteng.
- The tea bagging machine and honeybush tea
- WCHBT member with tea bagging machine
Media queries can be directed to
Lesego Ranchu
Tell: 011 018 5516
E-mail: lesegor@nda.org.za
WCHTC can be reached on
E-mail: wchtwc@gmail.com
Mr Raoul du Toit
Cell: 073 699 8665
