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TRANSCRIPT
What is Arboreal?
Arboreal is an award winning global agribusiness solutions companyfocused on creating sustainable supply chains of high quality medicinalplants (prime focus – Stevia) and extracts for the global F&B and herbalpharma industry
Arboreal develops/acquires/licenses intellectual property (high yieldinglocally acclimatised strains) and actively works with Farmer ProducerOrganisations (FPOs), Co-Ops and rural communities enabling them tocultivate high quality medicinal plants through scientific intervention,active risk management, quality control and long term off-takes.
Why?
Creating Value !!
Shared^
“Not all profit is
equal. Profits that
involve a social
purpose represent a
higher form of
capitalism - one that
leads to a positive
cycle of company and
community prosperity.”
- Michael E. Porter
Who are we?
Swati Pandey (CEO)Past experience in VC,InvestmentManagement, Oil andGas and SustainableEnergy Consulting,MSc., SustainableEnergy, ImperialCollege London;B. Tech. in MechanicalEngineering - IndianInstitute of Technology(ISM) Dhanbad;CommonwealthScholar; EU Climate-KIC Scholar
Dr. Ashok KumarPandey (CTO)Senior scientist, 23+years experience withAromatic andMedicinal Plants;Member of variousnational levelgoverning andadvisory boardsfocused on medicinalplants and NTFPmanagement.
Dhruv Srivastava (VP, Product Development)Past experience in Robotics, Oil and Gas;B. Tech. (Electronics and Electrical Engineering, IIT Dhanbad)
Manish Chauhan (CFO) Investment professional (Global Top10 Hedge Fund);Masters in Management, London Business School;B. Eng. (Hons.), Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS Pilani))
F&B,
Pha
rma
and
nutra
ceut
ical
Com
pani
es
Arboreal (Value Addition across the Supply Chain)
Local land
FPOs and Co-Ops
Medicinal Plants Cultivation
Medicinal Plants Supply Chain
Supply Rate
Contract
Trai
ning
Fina
nce
100%
Buy
Ba
ck
Proc
essin
g
Sustainable Cultivation
Mon
itorin
g an
d Q
ualit
y C
ontro
l
Harvesting
Stak
ehol
der
&
Risk
Man
agem
ent
= Cluster
R&D
Cer
tific
atio
ns,
App
rova
ls &
Tra
de
Lice
nces
Inpu
ts/
Reso
urce
s
Dried leaf/Crude
Extract
What we do?
Stevia Leaf Production: Why India?
Land Bank and Soil Type: second largest size of arable land of any countryafter the U.S*.
Climate Factors: Up to 4-5 harvests acheivable due to congenial climaticconditions.
Cheaper Labor: Cheaper labor as compared to US or European countries (evenSouth America)
Agrarian Economy: More than 50% of the work force in India is engaged inAgriculture*.
Policy and Tax Incentives: The government has also launched a number ofpolicies to support commercial cultivation of crops like Stevia (E.g. No tax onAgri-produce, Subsidies for specialist horticulture).
Big Domestic Market: 15% population in the age group of 15-45 is diabetic.
* http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2011/09/20/agriculture-journal-china-versus-india-by-the-numbers/
Despite all of the factors mentioned above:
The current scale of Stevia production in India is relatively small (approx 150MT/year), mainly because of lower quality planting material being used forcultivation, which doesn’t suits the needs of international buyers.
Little work has been done on the research and development of new Steviavarieties in India so far, and whatever work has been done, has not reachedthe ground level/farmers.
Stevia Leaf Production: Why India?
There is a clear need for a player like Arboreal that has the technical knowledge, operational expertise, research and development expertise, industry connections, and international network to bridge this gap between laboratory and farm, and develop India as a hub for high-quality Stevia cultivation.
▪ Arboreal founded atClimate-KIC (EUinitiative) LearningJourney in Zurich; WinsPublic Award.▪ Receives financialsupport from the EU.
2011
20122013- 14
2015
▪ Field trip to India todo community study▪ Achieves podiumfinish at EMEA finals ofGSVC, and ESSCompetition in London
▪ Arboreal revived with a new core team of 3 people ▪ Incorporation of the Company in India ▪ First pilot launched in U.P, India on 70 acres with Andographispaniculata▪ Concept Validation and Successful execution of first commercial sales contract with some of the biggest players in the herbal industry▪ Market research for Stevia started
▪ Identify andacclimatize the bestyielding Stevia variety tosuit Indian Climate andEnvironment conditions.▪ Bring 5,000 acres ofland under cultivationfor Stevia▪ Optimise the supplychain and become oneof the leading globalsuppliers of high qualityStevia leaves to the lowcalorie sweetenermanufacturing/ F&Bindustry.
Journey so far and future plans
Current Status
• SecuredLandbank
• SecuredOfftake
• Designed. Implementation Ongoing. Early SuccessAgronomic Trial
Procurement of Elite Stevia Strain
Operational Team
• 1st phase complete. 2nd phase ongoing
• In place. Hiring ongoing
Current Status (in pictures)
Impact on Farmers
• Improved income (Avg. income: 1-1.5 lacs/acre/year)
• Protection from market fluctuations
Economic
• Education and training• Improved income leads to reverse
migration from cities to villagesSocial
• Lower land and water footprint as compared to other traditional crops like Rice and Sugarcane
• Lower requirement of chemical fertilisers and pesticides
Environmental
Technical guidance and
training
Elite planting material
Regular monitoring
Assured off-take
Quality check
Arbo
real
Operational Challenges faced
Plant multiplication to scale: Plant to plant multiplication ratelimits the speed of scaling up the cultivation acreage.
Dependency on farmers to follow the recommended practices.
Produce leakage: Some farmers with short term perspective tendto get lured by other buyers that may offer a slightly higherprice.
Higher upfront investment as compared to other crops makesthe farmers a bit reluctant to Stevia farming.
Resistance among farmers to adopt a new crop.
Bad experience with Stevia from the past has made farmersmore apprehensive towards Stevia farming.
