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Progress in pig farming offers opportunities
by Goo Media
Dutch companies on a mission in Argentina Progress in pig farming offers opportunities
The Argentinian pig industry has been on the rise for years, presenting interesting possibilities for Dutch businesses. To harness these, a business cluster supported by the government is showing a strong presence in the South American country.
The Rabobank calculated a few years ago that pig production in Argentina had increased by more than 70 percent between 2011 and 2016. In 2017, the bank forecast that the average annual consumption of pork in that country would grow from 11 kg per person in 2015 to 18 kg in 2025. On top of the higher domestic consumption, Argentina has been increasing its market presence on the international stage, not least because the Chinese market opened up to Argentinian pork in 2019.
Within this fast-growing Argentinian market, there is a need for more knowledge and new technology in areas such as animal feed, animal housing, agro-logistics and feeding systems. Other areas of interest are closed-loop agriculture and environmental and animal welfare aspects. Our country has an abundance of expertise in all these fields. So it’s no surprise that Dutch companies want to gain a foothold on Argentinian pig farming soil. “Several companies had already shown interest in entering this market together for some time,” says Marcel Knoors of the National Office for Entrepreneurial Netherlands (RVO). “In fact, a few agricultural trade missions have already been organized in recent years. The demand from the Dutch business community then led to a concrete programme.”
Ambitions That programme is called Partners for International Business (PIB), which enables companies to realize their international aspirations through a public-private partnership. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency is responsible for implementing PIB on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Knoors is one of the programme managers at the Netherlands Enterprise Agency. “With PIB, we offer the frameworks and possibilities for the participating companies. Being a government agency, our role is mainly organisational and supportive and we ensure that companies and institutions are able to find each other.” On 1 September 2020, the parties involved met via Microsoft Teams and signed a cooperation agreement in the form of a covenant.
The public-private partnership focuses on knowledge exchange, network building and positioning the Dutch business community in Argentina. Through the provision of knowledge, skills and technology, they can optimize the
Argentinian sector and respond to the demand for more sustainably produced pig products. “The aim of the programme is to take expertise and technology to the next level, whereby Dutch companies can also stay involved for the longer term,” says Knoors. “By working together as government and businesses, we have a much stronger starting position. The cluster is composed in such a way that it creates synergy and allows participants to strengthen each other. Each company brings its own expertise. It is a diverse, complementary group.”
Results The programme has been running now for over six months. “For us it’s important to have everything properly in place right from the start,” explains Knoors. “In concrete terms, this means we need to engage in the right activities in the right order, so that they become interested in Argentina and stay there.” Because of coronavirus, our communication is still mainly digital. “Doing business in person is better, especially since you have a chance to look one another in the eye. This is proving difficult at the moment, but there will certainly be a meeting very soon between the local stakeholders and the Dutch parties.”
The main focus in the next three years will be on exchanging knowledge between the Dutch and Argentinian governments, knowledge institutes and companies, on participating collectively in important sectoral trade fairs, organizing trade missions and other gatherings, and developing a joint communication strategy. “After those three years, the programme can possibly be extended for another year,” Knoors says. Stimulus He emphasises that it concerns a programme and not a subsidy. “Subsidies are mainly granted to individual companies. The aim of this programme is to represent the interests of the entire cluster and, in fact, the entire sector. This has been documented in the covenant and an accompanying action plan. It is also explicitly not the intention to train competitors within our own pig farming sector, but rather to stimulate international trade and the role of Dutch companies.”
There needs to be some sort of tangible result at the end of the programme that the Dutch companies can build on further. “The government provides a budget, but in return we expect private participants to also contribute their fair share. This can be an equivalent in man hours, but it should be clear that taking part is by no means a free ride. An impact assessment is carried out both during and after the programme. We say the programme is a success if Dutch companies receive orders worth at least ten times the amount we invested.”
https://www.rvo.nl/subsidies-regelingen/partners-international-business-pib
