When foreman James W Marshall first unearthed a certain shiny metal in Coloma, California, in 1848, few now would be able to relate to the dismay of the land’s owner John Sutter at finding gold in his soil. Sutter had grand agricultural plans for the land and over the next seven years, the magnate saw 300,000 people swarm into the region as part of a gold rush that has been mirrored in the Peruvian avocado trade.
Growers in the country reacted quickly and in great numbers on seeing the increased popularity that the last few years has brought to the exotic product’s market. In 2008 alone, exports emanating from the country increased by 29 per cent on the previous year, totalling 38,680 tonnes, of which 12 per cent was destined for the UK. Recent Kantar Worldpanel data saw avocados sitting fourth in the UK’s most popular exotic products, with a 12.6 per cent market share and a value of £40.2 million. It is these figures that represent both encouraging growth and a daunting challenge that ProHass - the nine-year-old Peruvian Hass avocado producers’ association - has in its sights.
In the UK, one of Peru’s main growth markets, ProHass is launching promotional activity for a second season following a successful campaign in 2009, as well aslaunching a complementary drive for the first time in France.
With the strapline Nature’s Alternative, the Peruvian campaign highlights the health benefits of eating Hass avocados, particularly the fruit’s high levels of vitamins and minerals.
In the UK, shopper tastings, in-store radio and an on-pack Peruvian holiday competition will take place during the season while features on the health benefits of, and cooking with, Hass will appear in magazines and online. Advertising will take place in various locations including gyms.
The campaign will run from mid-June until August. Both the UK and French campaigns will be supported with consumer and trade PR activity and by English and French versions of the website, www.deliciousavocados.com.
Exports for this year are expected to increase by 24 per cent to around 47,000t, as the industry continues to expand.
The campaign comes at a promising time for the exotic product, with ideal conditions ahead of the May to September export season. In the north of the country, harvesting begins in March while in the south, a May to August and early September model is much more common. Trials are being undertaken to extend the northerly season using 30 hectares of land in the north, near Olmos. Agricola Hoja Redonda, based in Chincha, is one company benefiting from a good season. Its exports are likely to be around 3,000t - a figure set to double in the next five years - at a production rate of 20t/ha, well above the national average of 8,000-12,000t. The firm employs 1,400 staff, including many in its 12,000sqm packhouse, at high season and is looking to increase its land to 1,000ha from 833ha, still a far cry from the 1,800ha of terrain the company owned before a national land reform in 1970. Agricola Hoja Redonda’s operations manager James Bosworth says it is vital that the campaign succeeds in increasing market penetration. “In the future, the price of avocados is going to be very cheap because of the large volume of avos on the market,” he says. “It is happening already and we need to increase the consumption of kilos per capita.
Agricola Hoja Redonda supplies the likes of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons and Bosworth says the UK is an incredibly valuable market. “It is a very organised situation with the supermarkets taking almost all of the product,” he explains. “That said, Peruvian growers need to work in every kind of market to allow for fluctuations in product. If you have less fruit, you probably prefer a fixed price, while larger growers will prefer some flexibility.”
Bosworth also believes it is important that Peru is established as the number one source for avocados. ProHass is collaborating with the Chilean Hass Avocado Association to promote in the UK, as the Chilean season - from October to February - complements Peruvian supply and maintains consumer interest in the product. But a continued rivalry with South Africa has been supplemented by rival product from Mexico and even Colombia in vying for market share.
“Now in Peru, we have a very clear political situation and the country is open to international investment across business and trade,” says Bosworth. “It is my feeling that this is not the case in South Africa, where they do not have political stability, which may be stopping investment. We also have a more stable climate than South Africa as we do not have any rain and have very high production levels per hectare.
“With a crop like avocados, you have to think about whether you are sufficiently productive,” he continues. “With asparagus 10 years ago, everybody saw there was money in the product and the price went down. Avocado is now a product that everyone wants to get into - maybe in some countries there are strong agricultural ministers who can dictate how much production of a certain fruit and vegetable is undertaken, but here you could plant the whole country with avocados if you wanted to.”
It is also thought that if a balance can be found between exporting Peruvian avocados to the EU and the US - which currently relies on domestic and Mexican product - then the value can remain in a market which regularly sees a single avocado retail at a healthy £1 retail price point.
The US deal could hinge on proving that the avocado is not a host to the common fruit fly, which exporters are confident is not the case. Arturo Medina Castro, general manager of ProHass, said: “At ProHass, we started an investigation programme a year ago where we are trying to show that they are not hosts of fruit fly. We are working with Mexican experts to meet the requirements for the US to export there without any treatment.”
The rapid rise in avocado plantings has been helped by the ample stock on offer at the Las Lomas de Chilca nursery, located south of Lima. More than 250,000 plants a year are produced at the nursery, which is eight years old. Some 80,000 plants are grown on commission for growers nationwide, while the company’s considerable production - more than 450ha.
General manager Enrique Camet Piccone, current president of ProHass, gives an insight into the business. “We measure the seeds and make sure they get the same amount of water to achieve uniformity,” he says. “We farm in the highlands and harvest in January, which means the avocados hit Europe in February until September, when we can get the best prices. Our highlands farms are in Ayacucho and are between 50m and 2,300m above sea level. We have 300ha in the highlands and 150ha on the coast all together and it gives us a good spread of nine months production if there is a problem in one region to continue working in another.”
In terms of infrastructure, Peru’s links to the UK are strong, despite its position on the west coast of South America. Improvements to the Panama Canal have put the country in a strong position. A new pier at the Port of Callao has been created to receive post-Panama ships, while the government has facilitated the opening of new privatised ports in Paita and Pisco. Work has also been done on a national scale by a group called BASC to eradicate the use of fresh produce exports to smuggle drugs out of the country, with vehicles entering many companies’ packhouse sites subject to compulsory drug inspections.
Last year, the promotional campaign focussed on the UK and Spain and this year’s transition to France has displayed a firm and widespread ambition for the avocado to conquer Europe. Information relating to consumption of the fruit is said to be key in driving forward sales, with research revealing that even consumers in affluent markets more than versed in a range of fresh produce remain confused as to how to approach and use the premium product. What is clear is that there is a desire, especially in the UK market, for further knowledge on the product and how to incorporate it into a number of dishes and with the supplies, infrastructure and supermarkets in place to push the product, few would bet against its eventual, incremental success.
CAMPOSOL: THE GREEN REVOLUTION STARTS HERE
A few yards down the road from Camposol’s Frusol farm, painted walls stake the claim of candidates for the forthcoming elections in Peru. But while the country prepares for a busy political campaign, few could imagine the scale of the serene agricultural revolution happening behind the walls of the company based in the aptly named La Libertad region.
With a turnover of $120m (£82m), Camposol is one of the largest contributors to ProHass - which requires a levy of $0.03 per kilo or $50/ha for farms under two years old that are not yet producing from its 72 associates - and the scale of its 22,000ha operation, 6,000ha of which are currently in production, is astonishing.
In 2016, Camposol aims to grow the same amount of avocados as the whole country currently produces, an impressive achievement for a company only set up in March 1997. Last year, the company exported 7,300t of Hass - with some Ettinger and Fuerte production complementing supply - and hopes to increase sendings to 11,400t this year. The company currently has 2,450ha of avocados, with more than 800ha in commercially sellable condition and a goal of 2,500ha by 2012.
“We have a budget of around $5,000 per hectare,” says production manager Javier Alegre Mendosa. “That includes $1,500-1,700 for fertiliser, $1,500 for crop protection and 15-20 per cent of the budget for labour so it is a serious investment. We harvest from mid-April to the end of July and just one a year, elsewhere some farms harvest twice and have three people working on each tree.
“We have excellent conditions and use computerised drip irrigation to help with the sandy, arid soil while the mountains protect against the wind.”
Camposol has set expectations of its trees with a fledging field producing 3t/ha in the third year, up to a goal of 24t/ha in the seventh year before levelling out within its 25 to 30-year lifespan. On touring the firm’s extensive production and packing of mangos, peppers, grapes, citrus, asparagus and of course, avocados, few would deny the ambitious company its plans for domination.
