CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING AWARDED BEST GLOBAL AGRICULTURAL INVESTMENT DEVELOPMENT COMPANY OF THE YEAR. TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT AGRI DEVELOPMENTS AND WHAT DISTINGUISHES YOU FROM OTHERS.
First, a big thank you to International Investor and the voting panel for recognizing AGRI Developments and the hard work we have done this year. Second, we would like to thank Bayawan City in the Philippines, its people and Mayor Mr. Pryde Henry Teves for supporting us and our developments within the city.
At AGRI Developments we focus on sustainable agricultural projects in high growth developing sectors across the emerging markets. A number of things make us unique in the industry. First, sustainable focused projects in the emerging markets are rare; this is particularly true in Asia where we are based. Quick profitability with rudimentary agricultural practices with little concern towards the environment have unfortunately been the norm. Second, our involvement with the community goes far beyond simple employment and involves education and working collaboratively with the local government to develop their entire sector.
Third, we have demonstrated a unique ability to foresee high yielding sectors within the agricultural space such as Hass Avocados in Asia. Fourth, we have been able to efficiently use the resources we have to extract as much as we can which is in line with our sustainability focus. An example of this is our Mango project, where through yield optimization we can generate up to 10 times more revenue per acre than traditional farms.
Our goal at AGRI Developments, in support of the world’s needs, is to always do more with less. By creating more value with less risk, by producing more crops from less land and generating more business with less of an ecological footprint.
TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR DEVELOPMENTS AND WHAT MAKES THEM UNIQUE?
All our developments target high growth developing sectors within the agricultural industry and have common overarching themes. These themes include combating issues surrounding food security, supply, sustainability and quality. At AGRI Developments we use innovation and technical advances to improve our productivity. This allows us to use less land to produce more in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner. Our key developments include Mango and Hass Avocados and are based in Bayawan City, the Philippines.
Our Mango development aims at revitalizing the precious and underdeveloped mango sector of the Philippines. Mangos from the Philippines are world renown for their taste and sweetness and yet the market is remarkably underdeveloped. Demand is immense with 98% of production consumed domestically with global imports of the fruit rising 20-60% p.a since 2015 across key markets. Our development is the first of its kind in the country aimed at commercial production and implementing ACT, which allows us to produce 10x more yield per acre with fruit yielding 5x faster.
Our Hass Avocado development was just launched recently and is one of only two in all of Asia aimed at commercially meeting growing regional demand. Avocados are relatively new to Asia and yet growing rapidly, by over 45% per year since 2014. By 2030 consumption in Asia is expected to surpass the current world’s largest consumers: the United States and Mexico. With 95% of supply currently coming from as far away as South America and Africa this provides our development with a significant regional opportunity. The Philippines is the only country in Asia capable of commercially meeting demand and we are positioning ourselves to benefit from this.
THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC HAS SUPRISNGLY BENEFITED YOU GREATLY TELL US MORE ABOUT THIS.
We are proud to have done well as a business despite the personal hardships many of us faced. That being said we would not call our success a surprise as the agricultural sector is of vital importance regardless of what occurs economically. People need food and this need is simply increasing more and more, as are costs.
What benefited us greatly during the pandemic was also our strategic decision years ago to focus on agricultural projects that primarily have a consistent and rapidly growing domestic market. Our ability to not rely on exports allowed us to avoid the pitfalls many other companies faced from global trade restrictions and the closure of borders.
WHAT ARE YOUR FUTURE PROJECTIONS?
As a company, we feel our future is extremely bright. Our success during the pandemic has strengthened our commitment to our original strategy and we are in the midst of expanding all our developments. Future consumption of mango, the national fruit of the Philippines, will remain strong. In addition, the government will keep promoting trade with lucrative export markets which pay up to ten times more than domestic rates for mangos from the Philippines. This will in turn increase our profitably in the long term. In terms of Hass Avocados, growth is skyrocketing across Asia as well as domestically in the Philippines. This will benefit us greatly as we are only one of two commercially focused producers in the region.
In terms of our industry in general, we believe it will markedly outperform the general market over the coming decade. By 2050 Earth will need to produce 70% more food to feed an additional 2.5 billion people, whilst arable land decreases. People need food and this need is simply increasing.
Looking at the world as whole, we believe countries will increasingly focus on domestic sources of production and food sustainability through financial incentives, support or government mandates. The pandemic has shown that countries cannot blindly rely on one another for necessities as they have in the past. We believe food and water inventories, like oil inventories, will become increasingly important over the coming decades.
ARE YOU LOOKING FOR PARTNERS OR SEEKING INVESTMENTS?
Yes, we are always keen to work with like-minded partners and investors. Expansion, reaching economies of scale and increasing profitability are key objectives of ours but we also seek partners that can help us expand our sustainability, social and community initiatives.
