In the previous year, despite the challenges brought by the global COVID-19 pandemic, ADAMA managed to accelerate its digital platform, launch nine new products, strengthen cooperation and develop business with partners throughout the region.
Business Expansion In The Former Yugoslavia, Albania And Bulgaria
As a company, ADAMA is known for its individual approach to farmers and for striving to connect with them directly on the ground. Have any new ideas and innovative solutions in this regard been brought by the previous year, which was full of challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic?
“Farmer Proximity” remains a key pillar in ADAMA’s approach to the market. The global COVID- 19 pandemic and the social restrictions pose an obvious challenge for us. Apart from meeting farmers face-to-face within the framework of national restrictions, we have significantly accelerated our digital platform and have shifted budgets to support digital channels. This allows us to maintain communication, even if only remotely, and keep our customers informed and updated about any condition. Not only do we find those channels very effective, allowing us to address even larger number of farmers and provide them with a higher quality content in an interactive fashion, we have also noticed a shift of users profile towards young and more technologically advanced farmers.
You’ve announced the implementation of a major development plan over the coming years, but also that your agenda includes new solutions for farmers in Serbia and the region. Could you tell us what the main objectives are? Can you present to us some of those products that are current at this moment?
We have launched our long-term product development plan in Serbia and other former Yugoslav countries. We are excited to launch our bio-stimulant “Excelgrow”, a unique, all-natural alga extract that improves plant physiology, growth and resilience to stress, which leads to higher yields of vegetables and higher quality even under sub-optimal growing conditions. We are re-launching our high-end “Brevis”, a fruit-thinning solution, after years of testing, to allow apple growers to thin their fruits in a cost-effective, safe and simple way.
In 2021 alone, we have a record nine new products at launch, among which is a highly efficient new fungicide against sugar beet leaf-spot disease and a new corn herbicide to control a wide array of weeds
In addition, we have introduced “Brevis Smart”, our in-house software that assists the apple grower in determining the best timing for his “Brevis” application, based on a complex matrix of morphological and environmental inputs made simple. Those are just few examples. Our R&D teams, headed in Israel, are working on ADAMA’s next generation of crop-protection technologies.
Given that Serbia represents an important market for the operations of your company and that it has the potential to become a regional hub, have any concrete steps towards realising that potential already been taken? Considering that you’ve already expanded your operations to all countries of the former Yugoslavia, could you tell us how your experiences have been so far?
ADAMA Serbia is now a regional hub for all ADAMA operations in the former Yugoslavia and Albania. Our Serbian team recently established ADAMA Bulgaria, which operates under our management and support. Operating as a regional hub, we have strengthened our cooperation and grown our business with our partners across the territory by sharing knowhow, providing expertise and serving as a one-stop regional centre.