Primland IN France

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Sales of New Zealand kiwis began in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany during the 1970s. A few French plantations were then established in the Dordogne, the Landes, South-Eastern France and Corsica. The first kiwis arrived on the market in France in 1970.
In 1977, pioneering farmers created an EIG to pool their means of marketing and, above all, to store their fruit. This diversification dynamic quickly brought around twenty new producers together. From 1982, the EIG evolved into a cooperative form to ensure sustainability of this project: SCAAP Kiwifruits of France.
To meet the volume demands of its markets quickly, Primland decided to market the production of 5 cooperatives (15,000 tons in 2016), grouped under the name Alliance Kiwi France.
The AKF consisted of 600 producers located in France, over 850 hectares, in the most favourable growing regions for kiwifruit production.
Today, Primland can thus rely on 5 fruit stations (for the conservation and packaging of kiwis) and 3 distribution centres. This organisation provides greater proximity to consumption areas and logistics hubs (Landes, Lot-et-Garonne and the South East).

The cooperatives that make up the AKF:

  • SCAAP Kiwifruits of France (at Labatut in the Landes): 10,000 tonnes.
    The cooperative has 3 packaging-storage sites and one storage site, all located in the municipalities of Amou, Mugron and Labatut. The cooperative works with 208 member producers, representing 640 hectares of orchards, including over 600 hectares of kiwis and 48 hectares of apples.
  • SCA Lot Valley (in Lot-et-Garonne): 2,000 tonnes.
    SCA Lot Valley is an agricultural cooperative based in Clairac, which has been active for 30 years.
  • Lorifruit (in La Drôme): 1,000 tonnes.
    The SCA Lorifruit group is one of the specialists in stone fruit production, including apricots and peaches.
  • Agrucorse (in Corsica): 700 tonnes.
    Located 30 km from Bastia, Agrucorse was founded in 2006 by 5 producers.

Today, there are 32 producers growing kiwis, and also clementines and grapefruits.