AFRICA

Targeting, Segmentation, and Positioning strategy:

Segmentation: is the process of identifying and categorizing groups of customers and countries
according to common characteristics.

Targeting: involves evaluating the segments and focusing marketing efforts on a country,
region,
or group of people that has significant potential to respond. Such targeting reflects the reality
that a company should identify those consumers it can reach most effectively, efficiently, and
profitably.

Positioning: is required to differentiate the product or brand in the minds of target customers

Cavendish Farms is committed to sustaining the environment by adopting high quality

environmental standards. That’s why we’re the first potato producer to convert solid
waste to bio-methane gas in a state-of-the-art bio gas facility. Our team of potato
experts has also developed the Russet Prospect potato, which requires less fertilizer
and soil fumigation
Cavendish Agri is a well-established Canadian company serving growers in
Atlantic Canada.
We specialize in providing comprehensive growing services, from top quality
fertilizer, crop protectants, and farm supplies, as well as crop scouting, soil
analysis, precision farming, storage management and equipment rentals.
Our expert team of agronomists, certified crop advisors, researchers,
equipment operators and customer service staff have built strong, long-term
relationships with growers, with the focus of sharing our in-depth knowledge
and extensive experience with crops in the region.

Crop Protectants
 
Cavendish Agri offers a comprehensive list of Fungicides, Insecticides, and Herbicides. We
currently sell over 300 different crop protectants and have access to most registered agricultural
products in Canada; we have what you need to protect your crop!

Fertilizer
 
At Cavendish Agri we can blend fertilizer for any crop, from your specific requests to
customized blends created in consultation with one of our agronomists. We understand different
crops require different nutrients and depending on production practices, different formulations
are required. With multiple expert agronomists on staff, we have the expertise and ability to
tailor a fertilizer solution that is just right for your fields.
 

Seed
 
At Cavendish Agri, we are the sales agents for Pride Seed brand of corn and soybean seeds. We
also carry a complete line of grass seed, forage seed products and balanced forage mixtures.
 
For more information on our products contact your nearest Cavendish Agri location to discuss all
your crop protectant needs.

Services
Cavendish Agri’s powerful combination of comprehensive growing services, top quality
products, well maintained and available equipment as well as precision farming capabilities
allow us to provide exceptional value.

Most recently, Cavendish Agri has begun implementing advanced technologies to service our
clients and help manage the variability within their fields. We are proud to be the exclusive
provider for SWAT Maps (Soil, Water and Topography) in Atlantic Canada. 

To identify priorities for potato improvement, CIP conducted a survey of

knowledgeable potato scientists in developing countries to elicit their
perspectives on the most important constraints facing poor and small-scale
potato growers in their countries. Respondents scored productivity or other
constraints according to their importance in the region or country where they
worked. Mean and weighted mean scores were estimated to provide a group
judgment of the most important constraints facing potato farmers in
developing countries. The five highest-ranking needs described by the survey
respondents are: (1) control of late blight fungal disease (through varietal
resistance and crop management); (2) improved genetic material for high and
stable yield potential, suitable for consumption (new cultivars and
prebreeding); (3) improved supply of quality potato seed (seed systems
management and seed production); (4) control of viruses and their vectors
(through varietal resistance, seed production and crop management); and (5)
control of bacterial wilt (through varietal resistance and crop management).
These five needs were ranked high in all or most of the potato-growing regions
of Asia, Africa and Latin America. 
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02987182

In the coming decades, feeding the expanded global population nutritiously

and sustainably will require substantial improvements to the global food
system worldwide. The main challenge will be how to produce more food with
the same or fewer resources and waste less. Food security has four
dimensions: food availability, food access, food use and quality, and food
stability. Among several other food sources, the potato crop is one that can
help match all these constraints worldwide due to its highly diverse
distribution pattern, and its current cultivation and demand, particularly in
developing countries with high levels of poverty, hunger, and malnutrition.
 On the one hand, family farms are the backbone of agriculture in low- and
middle-income countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In such countries,
consumers’ needs are driven by food and nutrition challenges and demand
concerns, principally basic food availability in both quantity and quality from
essentially local production. On the other hand, the trend in the developed
world has been for many years towards intensification to achieve more
outputs per unit of land, but the sustainability of this intensification is under
debate especially considering agriculture’s environmental footprint
(Haverkort et al. 2013). In low-income countries with mainly rural-based agri-
food systems, sustainable intensification is a different challenge because it
starts from a much lower level of inputs than in developed countries. This is
especially the case in Africa where the potential for increasing production
through area expansion is diminishing, partly due to high population growth
(Headey et al. 2014). As illustration of this, Wu et al. (2018) and Jayne et al.
(2014) argue that even though Africa has a high cropping intensity gap Footnote1,
closing this gap sustainably must focus on input intensification rather than
area expansion. The relevant question is how to promote technology options
that allow for increased output quantity and quality (especially from the
nutrition point of view), while considering agriculture’s environmental impact,
preserving land and other resources in both developed and developing
countries.
In fact, the developing world’s potato production exceeded that of the
developed world for the first time in 2005 (FAOSTAT 2013). It reaffirms the
increasing importance of potatoes as a source of food, employment, and
income in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
In Africa, the increase in potato production has largely been through increase
of area under production, which more than doubled since 1994 and now
exceeds that of the LAC region suggesting a higher contribution of the crop to
local food systems. In Tanzania, for instance, potato supply has almost tripled
between 2000 and 2014 (FAO 2017), while in Rwanda, potato is included in
the national priority list of crops due to its role in national food security
(approximately 125 kg per capita per year; FAO 2009). As world population
levels are predicted to show the greatest rise in Africa in the coming decades,
the increase in contribution of potato to local food systems in this region is of
considerable importance (Birch et al. 2012) with high demand for potato
across urban African zones and potential for production increase not only in
the highlands and cool annual periods of the east, north, and south of the
continent but also in the higher plateaus and mountains of Central and West
Africa.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11540-021-09501-4
In high-income countries, consumers are looking principally for healthy and
easy to prepare foods at an affordable price while in the developing world
where rural-based agri-food systems are common, consumer needs are driven
by the food and nutrition challenges related to basic security of food
availability, access, and stability.
Sustainable potato production and efficient use of resources will require
adjustments and redesigns of the current cropping and processing systems. In
such a context, two main options can be considered to increase food security
and income generation and to reduce the environmental footprint: (i) produce
more with less through better input management and optimization and (ii)
produce just as much but waste less, both before and after harvest through
better value chain management, better storage, processing, and marketing
operations and responding to increased involvement and awareness of
consumers 
 

Characteristics of the segment(s) you might choose as the target market

 Urgent supply of locally adapted varieties, tolerant/resistant to pests,
drought, and heat for limited input production systems and with
integrated nutritional characteristics. As a corollary, acceptation and
development of recognized new breeding technologies (NBTs) to
overcome public non-acceptance of transgenic crops and need to foster
supporting legislation for commercializing varieties derived from NBTs.
 Enhancement of local and decentralized high-quality seed production,
multiplication, and distribution systems reducing the dependency on
international transports, thereby lowering long-distance transportation
costs while reducing the risks associated with the spread of pests.
 Support to the selection and promotion of locally adapted, demand-led
potato varieties, combined with rapid seed multiplication techniques.
 Development of pest management options for a more rational use of
pesticides and alternative practices such as biological control and
decision support tools, combined with integrated cropping systems for
sustainable production practices including water and soil fertility
management.
 Development of new storage technology and equipment for industrial-
based agri-food-systems [i.e. to overcome the ban of sprout inhibitor
chlorpropham (CIPC) in Europe] accompanied with knowledge
exchange to enhance potato storage capacities in rural-based agri-food
systems.
  Research to improve the efficiency of potato value chains and foster
strengthened coordination among its actors is still required to reduce
food losses, to enhance the profit to be made by the different
stakeholders, and to generate attractive opportunities for the young
population, without exacerbating social inequalities. This being true for
both rural and industrial potato-based agri-food systems.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11540-021-09501-4

why the target market(s) is/are attractive.

Unfortunately, when it comes to farming in Africa, there’s very little education being
drawn from adversity. In fact, there are major obstacles that limit the success of small-
scale farming in Africa. These obstacles can be categorized in four sections, namely:
1) climate, 2) technology and education, 3) financing and 4) policy and infrastructure.
Smallholder farmers in Africa are still among the poorest in the world. It’s hard for
them to maximize their potential without modern agricultural technologies, sufficient
investment and a distribution structure that remains ill-suited for accessing markets.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/05/4-factors-holding-back-african-farmers/
Small-scale farmers do not have the resources or ability to mitigate or protect
themselves from the effects of climate change.
Adaption strategies need to be implemented. The effects of global warming can be
managed by optimizing inputs – i.e. fertilizer application according to soil analysis
and good-quality seeds with high germination potential. There needs to be a shift from
traditionally grown staple crops (specifically maize) to cash crops – niche products
with higher yields and margin. This, however, will only be possible by providing
education and technology. It’s a complex theory and dependent on expensive
research. It’s also limited, to an extent, to large-scale commercial farmers.

Education and technology: the farmer’s allies

The agriculture sector in Africa is the least productive in the world (its productivity
rate is 36%). To quote Calestous Juma, professor of the Practice of International
Development at Harvard Kennedy School: “Medical students train to become doctors;
law-school students become lawyers. However, most of those trained in agriculture
end up “growing bureaucracies” rather than growing food crops. It is evident that
there’s a need for innovation, science and technology to maximize training and the
application of skills to the agriculture sector in Africa.”

African governments should create training initiatives that empower farmers to

become self-sufficient in food supply. Cultivation of arable land is essential, with
access to quality inputs, and there should be an overwhelming support for the “science
agenda” to establish methods of increasing crop yields. But while governments can
support these initiatives, if we are to create a sustainable platform where a new
generation of small-scale farmers can flourish, what’s really required are affordable
financing structures.

Policy and infrastructure

In Africa, trade can be restricted by outdated policies, high import duties and border
bureaucracy. Inadequate infrastructure within the continent remains an obstacle to
small-scale farmers, the majority of whom live and farm in rural areas. The lack of
infrastructure does have a silver lining: it creates opportunities for investors who
finance physical assets, which could potentially nudge Africa into an infrastructure
development boom.

One of the largest obstacles to trade for small-scale farmers, however, is the debate
around genetically modified crops. Although research has shown that GM crops
themselves do not adversely affect health, some researchers hold that the herbicides
used on the crops do.

While African governments face a multitude of challenges, not least the present
economic climate, the time is ripe for investment from the private sector. Hunger in
Africa still a priority for governments and organizations around the world, and small-
scale farmers are at the centre of this possibility.

The high nutrient content, ability to adapt to marginal environments, relative ease of cultivation,
and low cost and high productivity are attributes that make potatoes one of the principal and
most important sources of food and income for underprivileged citizens of developing countries
around the world.
https://nkxms1019hx1xmtstxk3k9sko-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-
content/uploads/2017/04/Why-are-Potatoes-Important-Eng-2017.pdf

- malnutrition
- sustaining lands
- food security
- food and nutrition challenges related to access, stability and availability
- Africa, most of whose people are farmers, is unable to feed itself and has been in this situation
for many decades now. The number of chronically undernourished people has risen from 173
million in 1990-92 to some 200 million in 1997-99. Of these, 194 million (34 percent of the
population) are in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- At the same time, there has been a progressive growth in food imports in the last years of the
20th century, with Africa spending an estimated US$18.7 billion in 2000. Africa's share of global
agricultural imports in 1998 was 4.6 percent. Its share of developing country imports was 16.3
percent. Agricultural imports account for about 15 percent of total African imports. It is of
particular concern that the share of gross export revenues needed for importing food has
increased from 12 percent to over 30 percent in East Africa. Part of Africa's "imports" is food
aid, with the continent receiving 2.8 million tons in year 2000. In the mid-1990s, out of the
world total of 32 million victims of disasters receiving relief assistance from the World Food
Programme (WFP), 21.5 million were living in Africa. In 2001, the number of people suffering
 from food emergencies ranged between 23 and 28 million. In terms of exports too, agriculture
has generally performed poorly, with the relative share of African agricultural exports in world
markets falling from 8 percent in 1971-80 to 3.4 percent in 1991-2000. The value of
agricultural exports, which amounted to US$14 billion in 2000, is growing extremely slowly,
having been US$12 billion in 1990.
- Food insecurity is greatest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Between 1990-92 and 1997-99 daily per
capita dietary energy supply in Sub-Saharan Africa rose slightly from 2120 to 2190 kcal. The
number of chronically under-nourished people, however, increased from 168 to 194 million
during the same period. Imports of cereals by Sub-Saharan countries are estimated at some
17 million tons in 2000, including 2.8 million tons of food aid. Much of the solution to poor
nutrition lies with expanding production in Africa itself: it may be noted that globally, even
after the doubling of world grain supplies, the share of trade in total grain consumption has
remained stable at about 10 percent. Thus, by and large, most of the world's food
consumption takes place in the countries in which it is produced. In low-income countries, this
dependence on production to ensure adequate food supplies is more acute.
- This food shortage is a source of enormous concern. It is estimated that if the self-sufficiency
ratio in Sub-Saharan Africa is to stay the same in 2015 as in 1995-97 (about 85 percent), the
sub-continent will have to meet 118 million tons of its projected needs of 139 million tons of
cereals through increased production in the region itself, requiring a substantial increase of
output. These stark realities highlight the huge scale of the problem.
-
https://www.fao.org/3/y6831e/y6831e-02.htm It is, however, also possible to look at the food
gap as a tremendous opportunity. The existence of such large shortfalls provides a potential
market for small farmers, amongst whom poverty and hunger are concentrated, to expand
their output and improve their livelihoods, in turn enabling countries to reduce their import
dependence. For this to happen in a situation of increasingly liberalised international markets,
however, farming within the Region must become more competitive.
-

What is your competitive advantage and how will you differentiate your company from
competitors serving the same target market.