GOLDEN FRUIT SOLUTION
Golden Fruits exports physalis, granadilla, passionfruit and tamarillo, as well as green lemons and plantains. Its biggest market in Europe is Italy, but one of the company’s objectives is to increase its UK volume.
Golden Fruits works with Oxford Fruit Company (OFC) in the UK, and Jaime Machado Plata, general manager of the Colombian firm, says: “Plantains has always been a good product for us, but we see a lot of potential in exotic fruit. In the last two years we have invested heavily in new plantations in an area that was previously not used for production.”
Trees at the farm, in the hills outside Subia, are producing their first meaningful crops this year and while there has been an element of experimentation in the planting process, the results so far are pleasing for Machado. “We have tried to do some new things, spaced trees differently, removed leaves to increase yields and put in horizontal systems to facilitate picking. The fruit so far looks beautiful and we are using our experience to utilise the soils better,” he says. “We don’t have a lot of farms, but we treat each one differently - there is not only one solution for every problem. When you don’t have so much land, it is important to be creative - we have many ideas and we are not afraid to implement them.”
While accessibility is not ideal, the farm has everything else it needs and Golden Fruits has put the required labour and technical expertise in place to ensure that things run smoothly.
As with its serious competitors, the company has also embarked upon the EurepGAP road, in the belief that it is a must-have accessory for the forward-moving exporter. “For us, EurepGAP does not signify increased costs, we see it as a necessary investment which will open up a wider marketplace, particularly in the UK,” says Machado. “As far as I am concerned, if you have EurepGAP, you can have retail clients, if you don’t then you cannot.”
LARGE PHYSALIS FROM LITTLE PITAHAYA GROWS
Luis Alfredo Orozco turned up at a German trade fair in 1989 with two boxes of the fruit he was then growing on his single farm. A chance meeting with trade legend Klaus Papé indirectly secured Orozco an order for his pitahaya, which kick-started the export business of El Tesoro. Sixteen years down the line, the firm has transformed into the largest volume exporter of exotic fruit out of Colombia, though pitahaya has taken a back seat to physalis in the product portfolio.
The trade-fair party was organised by export promotions body Proexport, and Orozco recognises the role it played in developing the first business contacts for Colombian fruit firms. “If it wasn’t for Proexport, we would never have exported fruit at that time. Maybe it would have happened eventually, but the government was very active and that helped us all a lot.”
Growth was a gradual affair, he adds, with the decision to grow physalis (now 80 per cent of all volume) proving key to success in the last few years. “Physalis is the product that the whole market has developed on. We were very stable, but the last three years have seen excellent growth, and there is no reason to believe that it won’t become an even bigger product in Europe in the years to come.” He cites research that appears to suggest that eating physalis has a direct correlation to happiness and could treat depression, as well as studies showing that it has healthy properties for the skin, as reasons to be cheerfully optimistic. “If it is scientifically proven that physalis is an anti-depressant, as well as full of vitamins, then we’ll have to plant all over Colombia,” he says hopefully, adding that El Tesoro has already planted large volumes in the last 12 months to meet expected additional demand, research findings or no research findings.
A logistics office has been set up in Bogotá and partnerships with growers have been stepped up. “People are eating physalis quicker than we can grow it and I think we could triple our volumes in the next few years,” predicts Orozco. “We are also setting up an office in the US, which has been hard, but could bear dividends.”
And the bigger a product physalis becomes, the more interesting it becomes to breeders. “There has never been a genetic breeding programme for physalis seeds. It is a very labour intensive product, which has to be hand-picked and individually checked. The fruit and plants are delicate and the yields are still fairly low. It needs a far more concerted effort to make a real difference.”
Orozco admits that a visit to 200 different physalis growers in Colombia would throw up 200 distinct growing regimes, but denies that this lack of unity is holding the industry back. “Everyone does their own thing, but it all falls into place,” he says. “Research and development is happening, but it is mainly a private thing. We have our own breeding programme and we collaborate with universities and private bodies to improve our production methods. Each company has its own findings, but no-one owns the truth.”
Finance is the issue that most exercises the mind of the Colombian grower and El Tesoro has worked closely with the public sector to build a sustainable supply base and encourage smaller producers. “The state government cannot reach the smallholders, so we are in a position to help them. We have 120 suppliers and a close relationship with all of them,” says Orozco. “We are able to offer them a complete service from the beginning of the production process to marketing their fruit. We invest in them directly and give technical advice through our own agronomists. We also transport their fruit from the farm to the packhouse, which would cost them a lot of money if they did it themselves. It is a win-win situation, good for us and also for the growers.”
El Tesoro has two of its own farms and 180 hectares of outgrower capacity. “We can’t be everywhere at once,” says Orozco, “but we would much rather have 180ha separated between good small growers than own it all ourselves. The size of a grower is no limitation on their ability to provide high quality product. In my view, a supplier with just one hectare is the best supplier. He will be totally focused on that product for the whole year - and can produce around 20 tonnes of product, which can generate a good living.”
ALL CHANGE AT FRUTIERRES
Frutierres, based in Granada, is one of the largest senders of fruit to the UK from Colombia, selling a range of exotic products, headed by physalis and passionfruit, into M&S, Tesco and Waitrose through its partnership with Utopia.
The area is one of the most productive for physalis in the country, says the company’s Gaira Velastagul, who is responsible for the management of the EurepGAP process within its farms.
Frutierres has a close relationship with Utopia, working on projects with the Spalding-based firm in Colombia and other Latin American countries.
It is exotic fruit that formed the basis of Frutierres export effort, however, and Gaira Velastagul says the company was one of the first companies from Colombia to export physalis, almost 20 years ago. The season begins in late October and reaches a peak between February and April. Until recently, Frutierres used around 150 small growers - with as few as 50 plants each - to satisfy demand for its product portfolio. When it took on the task of implementing EurepGAP, the supplier base changed by necessity. The demands of the process, and the fact that it is voluntary, have seen numbers fall to 15 for physalis, 15 for passionfruit and around 50 more for other products, including tamarillo. “We have around 80 growers altogether now,” says Velastagul, adding that the most prominent, particularly those that supply product destined for the UK market, are all EurepGAP certified. There are 23 growers involved in the Frutierres training programme, either fully certified or in the certification process, with a target finish date of March 2006. “The providers of certified fruit are very important to us,” she says. “It has been a headache for some to implement because they don’t own their own land and we are still in the transition period this year, but we have made excellent progress. It is above all, a very big change in culture for some producers, but it is a worthwhile change.”
The job is not over once certification is achieved, she adds: “Our agronomists will remain dedicated to increasing the standards on all farms, maintaining farms that are certified and keeping the implementation process on track in others. They will constantly be looking for ways to allow us to achieve EurepGAP on even the smallest farms.” As Utopia’s UK customer base includes Tesco, Waitrose and M&S, the ability to expand certified capacity would provide Frutierres with a distinct advantage over many of its global competitors.
Velastagul says quality issues elsewhere have helped Colombian physalis grab its foothold in the UK and Europe, and she expects passionfruit to increase in importance if the Colombian industry can prove its long-term worth as a provider of consistent volume and quality. “As certified area increases, so will our export volumes,” she says, “I’m sure of that.”
BECKERS ZOOMS IN ON EUROPEAN EXOTICS MARKET
Johan Beckers was a Mercedes dealer when he first visited Colombia as a tourist in 1999. He was so impressed with what he saw in the country, he decided to go back to Belgium, conduct some marketing studies and return to take advantage of the potential he believed existed. Many of his customers happened to be players in the Brussels and Antwerp fruit trade and one thing kept emerging from his research - there was strong demand for exotic fruit in Europe and Colombia was attractive as a source.
Now Beckers owns Andes Export, markets exotic fruit through his JB Marketing operation in Belgium, and sells into the UK market through Ferryfast. Andes Export has recently moved into new, customised premises and has an eye on expansion. His research and intuition proved to be spot on to date - from 500-600 boxes a week in the early days, Andes Export now sends in the region of 15,000 boxes a week, principally to Europe.
Investment in technology, including what Beckers claims are the only three custom-made blast drying machines for physalis leaves in the country, has shown belief in the product. “I saw the major opportunity as physalis. You have to feel the business vibes, if you don’t you’re not a businessman,” he says.
While the quality of product coming out of Colombia is fine, he says, productivity still leaves a lot to be desired. “You need to be in control of your entire business, otherwise you simply cannot manage it properly,” says Beckers. “You also have to be productive and efficient to compete. We have employees at every stage of the chain and we ship 99 per cent of our product by sea - it is the only way to compete on price. Customers in the discount sector in Europe have begun to emerge and I think Colombia offers them a unique opportunity. The same can be said for passionfruit. The only real competition for Colombian exporters is their compatriots.”
As well as physalis, Andes Export produces tamarillo, granadilla and passionfruit, but while the continent has devoured Beckers’ fruit, which represents more than a quarter of Colombian fruit sent into Belgium, the UK has yet to dive in. “We only really sell product into the foodservice market in the UK at the moment. Our products have real potential for the supermarkets, but we have never had anyone on the ground to do the job.” He also believes that the UK market would open up if more people visited and the industry was better co-ordinated. “We could achieve so much more if people came here more often to see us, and if there was more unity amongst exporters. I don’t fear competition, in fact I want to see more companies in the market, because the volume would make things work, and we can grow together.”
One of the barriers to entry to exotic fruit into developed markets is the lack of testing of chemicals for use on lower volume products. “We have a laboratory and links with Ghent Univeristy - in Belgium - which enables us to keep right up-to-date with MRLs. We have never exceeded them,” says Beckers. “It is not that easy with so many small farmers. We have 25 at the moment and we’re looking to retain growers to increase their experience. We also pay double the average wage to workers at our main facility, as I believe it is crucial to build a solid base of reliable employees. Since we opened the new facility, we have also increased our training and the rhythm has come very quickly.”
The next step is to pursue HACCP accreditation for the packhouse. “I want to do it because I know how important it is,” says Beckers. “The better the awareness of the people here of the demands of the international marketplace, the easier it will be to change the culture; and it needs to change.”
