Helping the world grow more with less
Serving multiple customers and providing them with a diverse array of agricultural applications, Netafim aims to focus on developing advanced solutions in order to jointly address the issue of food security
Can you please explain the business model of Netafim?
Netafim works in two key verticals:
Developing, manufacturing and providing smart irrigation technology products and solutions via our authorised distribution network.
Providing end-to-end agricultural solutions and services focused on precision irrigation and plant nutrition solutions. We provide our customers – governments, corporates, and family businesses – with a diverse array of agricultural applications, helping them to grow any crop at any scale to meet their business objectives.
How did you adapt your business strategy during the pandemic?
Initially, the pandemic impeded some progress, mainly due to travel restrictions and limitation of project execution. We had to adapt and support our customers remotely rather than the usual on-site visits of our experts and engineers.
However, the pandemic highlighted the vital need of food security to governments and we experienced record demand for our products and solutions including greenhouses and controlled environment technologies. We accelerated our digital transformation by enhancing and enabling digital platforms, providing our customers with on-line access to vast knowledge directly from Netafim experts.
When it comes to agriculture and sustainability, there are massive challenges we have seen worldwide. How does precision farming address these issues?
Precision farming aims to maximise yields while minimising resources and countering the challenges of limited availability of water and land. We need to grow more with less, which means using our resources in the most effective and efficient way. On average our technology saves approximately 50 per cent of the water required, mainly due to reduced evaporation and delivery of water and nutrients directly to the plant roots in smaller, steadier and accurate amounts. This means significantly more yield is produced for less water and other inputs.
The same principle also applies for land – we need to optimise production of every land unit in order to feed the growing global population. There isn’t enough arable land and forest degradation is a major threat to biodiversity, resulting in dire environmental consequences.
Talking about smart agriculture, what do you think the industry will look like in the next decade?
We see two main trends that are woven together. Across the world, there is a natural transition of farming businesses between generations, and the younger generation is likely to accelerate the adoption of top agricultural technologies. AI, robotics, big data and other technological developments will be embedded in agricultural applications such as agro-machinery, irrigation, fertigation, crop protection and post-harvest processes. Coupled with this, remote and autonomous operations of farming activities are increasing, enabling farmers to maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of the farm while minimising resources. In turn, this will benefit consumers with fresher, healthier food and the use of these technologies significantly reduces the footprint of CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions in agricultural production.
We also anticipate a strong trend of growing crops locally in controlled environments, combating crop production in challenging climatic and hydrological conditions such as in the GCC.
What kind of investment opportunities for agritech do you see in the Middle East?
With global warming and desertification prevailing in many countries, there will be significant investment opportunities in desert-tech including greenhouse and vertical farming, enabling crop production in desert climates such as in the Middle East. The development of water-tech also presents a major opportunity – water treatment and cost-effective desalination technologies will play a major role in enabling agriculture in the Middle East.
Can you share some examples of successful projects in the Middle East and Africa region?
We have partnered with the government of Rwanda to build water and irrigation infrastructure for 15,600 hectares of land including a fully automated drip irrigation and fertigation commercial blocks – both for the local community as well as multinational investors – fulfilling the vision of Paul Kagame, the President of the Republic of Rwanda.
We supplied irrigation and advisory to an Azam Group company, one of the biggest conglomerates in East Africa, for a sugarcane project spread across more than 2000-hectares. The maximum yield for sugarcane in this location is approximately between 25 to 45 tonnes per hectare. Azam Group, together with Netafim, achieved more than 180 tonnes per hectare, showcasing the potential of advanced irrigation technologies across all climatic and soil conditions.
In Gabon, we recently kicked-off the largest drip-irrigation project in the world.
In Morocco, we have accomplished a fourth yearly double-digit growth in a row and we are preparing to establish a manufacturing plant during the second half of 2022.
In the GCC, we serve multiple customers at various scales. We are exploring partnerships, both with private and government sectors, focusing on serving our partners globally while developing advanced solutions in order to jointly address the issue of regional food security and thus ensuring prosperity.