The inauguration of the new food protein plant brought together representatives of agricultural cooperatives from all over Latvia. Some have already signed cooperation agreements for the supply of peas and beans, and others are still planning to become partners.
The plant will be an incentive for farmers to return to growing peas and beans, said Ģirts Krūmiņš, Director of the Rural Support Service: "I think this will be a very good incentive for farmers to go back to growing peas and beans, because it goes very much with the Green Deal."
So far, the new factory has installed one production line and created 25 jobs, but the number of workers will double this year, said Mahmoud Ahmed, co-owner of Golden Fields Factory LV:
"We are planning the development in three phases. We will grow to 150 employees in the next two years, because this is not the only project we are planning. We will develop three more projects: two production lines, and a packaging line."
Golden Fields Factory LV is associated with Bunge, one of the world's largest food and agriculture companies, and Al Dahra, a United Arab Emirates agri-food company. Liepaja was chosen for its port and geographical location.
"In terms of business, Liepāja is closely connected to the whole Baltic Sea. We are not planning a small-scale production, we have very big plans also for the nearby terminals and we can get raw material from Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, which will be useful for the export market," Ahmed explained.
The protein produced in Liepāja is planned to be exported to the US, Japan, China and many other countries where the demand for vegetarian food is growing rapidly.
The new factory will also house a research center for food protein, which will analyse its quality and use. It could also develop new products.
Uldis Hmielevskis, Liepaja Special Economic Zone manager, said it would also be an opportunity to attract new professionals to the city. Hmielevskis said that there is a lot of interest in the new company in Liepāja and many residents have already come to the factory during the assembly of the equipment to find out what it will produce and whether there are any vacancies.
