By Naledi Nyoni
BEITBRIDGE — Businessman Simon Rudland’s US$30 million Orangeville citrus processing plant in Beitbridge is scaling up production after commencing operations in July 2025, strengthening Zimbabwe’s push to add value to agricultural produce instead of exporting raw fruit.
Vice President Constantino Chiwenga toured the plant in October last year, describing it as a key rural industrialisation project with potential to transform Beitbridge into a major citrus processing hub.
Orangeville supplies juice concentrate to the domestic market, including Schweppes Zimbabwe, while targeting regional export markets.
Company officials say the investment is designed to reduce imports of fruit concentrate and create reliable markets for locally grown citrus.
Plant representative Brandon Park said Orangeville has planted about 700 hectares of citrus and aims to expand orchards to 3,000 hectares by 2030 through its own production and contract farming schemes.
Processing capacity stands at 90,000 tonnes of oranges a season, with plans to increase it to 200,000 tonnes by 2030.
More than 25,000 tonnes of oranges had been processed within the plant’s first months of operation.
Orangeville also extracts orange essential oil used in the cosmetics industry and converts peel and pulp into livestock feed, improving value recovery from harvested fruit.
Company figures show the operation currently employs about 290 workers.
Employment could rise to between 1,500 and 3,000 as the project expands over the next decade, depending on harvesting methods adopted.
Matabeleland South Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Albert Nguluvhe, who toured the investment last week, said projects of this nature are critical in creating jobs and strengthening the province’s agro-industrial base.
Beitbridge has emerged as Zimbabwe’s fastest-growing citrus-producing district, with about 4,100 hectares under commercial and communal citrus production.
Favourable climatic conditions and expanding irrigation have driven increased investment into the sector.
Orangeville complements Rudland’s broader manufacturing investments, including the US$102 million Cut Rag Processors tobacco plant in Harare, commissioned in 2024 to process tobacco locally for export markets.
Rudland, who co-founded Gold Leaf Tobacco, also has interests spanning logistics, mining, agriculture, banking and finance.
Together, the investments reflect growing private sector interest in value addition as Zimbabwe seeks to expand manufactured exports and retain more value from agricultural production.
