Emerging Markets Need Your Advice
27 January 2009 Here’s a surefire way for your company to grow: Infiltrate an emerging market. Your products and their benefits to modernizing agriculture are practically unknown in parts of Africa and Asia.
A troubling report emerged from Uganda this week: More than 95% of growers do not use improved agricultural inputs. In statistical terms, that mean Ugandan farmers consider crop protection to be much like space travel; they know it’s possible, but they’ve never met an astronaut.
More specifically, more than 93% do not use herbicides; almost 92% don’t use fungicides, and about 83.4% don’t use pesticides. About 75% do not use improved seeds, and 85% were not using hybrid seeds.
These numbers indicate that agriculture technology is practically nonexistent in some developing countries. Though cost is a barrier to entry in some of these markets, many Ugandan growers said they don’t use agricultural inputs because they lacked access to them or knowledge about them.
Our industry has relied on state departments of agriculture to disseminate our crop protection message in countries where civil wars, droughts and plagues have all but obliterated infrastructure necessary to create sustainable farming programs.
If crop protection companies want developing nations to adopt agriculture technologies, then they need men on the ground to educate growers and create distribution networks. It might take some risk, but some markets, including Uganda, are virtually untapped and waiting to reap huge rewards for companies willing to help countries feed themselves.
It’s our turn to tout our own message. Send me your thoughts at [email protected].
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