May 14, 2024

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

AgDevCo is deepening its ties with Agris, the agriculture division of investment company Maris, by making an investment that ensures them a significant minority position in the company. 

Founded in 2020, Agris has three operating companies: Evergreen Fresh, Evergreen Herbs, and Evergreen Avocados, and this capital commitment will help support the growth of its farms in Kenya that grow high-quality herbs, vegetables, and avocados for the domestic and international markets. 

“The Agris team has already built three impressive agriculture businesses in Kenya,”  said Chris Isaac, CIO, AgDevCo. “We’re excited about deepening our partnership in East Africa, with the aim to promote food security, create jobs in rural areas and help drive the development of world-class agro- industries.”

Evergreen Herbs was started by rehabilitating two farms near Nairobi, and has grown into one of the largest producers of fresh cut herbs in East Africa with year-round production and more than 2,000 employees. 

Evergreen Fresh distributes fruits and vegetables from Agris’ farms and outgrower network to all major retail outlets in Kenya. It works to promote transparent purchasing relationships with farmers and offers consumers consistent quality via a dedicated cold chain distribution system. 

Evergreen Avocados is a joint venture between Agris, Granot, a leading avocado producer from Israel, and AgDevCo, which, in April 2023, committed $8 million to the venture via a flexible mezzanine loan structured to support new avocado orchards. The operation grows more than 400 hectares of avocados for export at Ndabibi Farm in Naivasha, which also will be home to a technical research and development facility to support the advancement of the wider avocado industry in Kenya. 

As the market for avocados continues to grow in Europe, the venture in Naivasha, Kenya, will be an ideal location given its low unit cost of production, favorable growing conditions, and location less than a day’s travel to the international port of Mombasa, linking it to key markets in Europe and beyond. 

The potential has been outlined in the Agricultural Outlook 2021-2030 report issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN, which forecasts that avocados are expected to be the second-most traded tropical fruit, after bananas, by 2030. At which time, the EU (where avocados have already outpaced grapes to be the second most valuable fruit import from developing nations) will account for 31 percent of global imports. 

Granot’s business, which is one of the biggest cooperatives in the world, accounts for one-third of Israel’s total avocado production, posting annual revenue exceeding US$1.5 billion, and this new Ndabibi farm will provide a year-round supply of avocados for the company’s new marketing arm. 

“Ndabibi will benefit the whole of the Kenyan avocado industry, providing producers across the country with the technical research and development we need to put Kenya on the map as a major avocado producer,” said Ran Kadosh, CEO of Agris, in April 2023. “Granot’s expertise will take production up a gear and achieve greater scale through extension, packing and marketing services for commercial out-growers.”

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Agris and Granot to make this major investment in Kenya’s avocado industry, where there is so much potential to raise quality and develop new export markets,” said Chris Issac, chief investment officer with AgDevCo, last year.

“Our US$8 million mezzanine loan is flexibly structured to support new avocado orchards, which take three to four years to reach maturity. This project adds to our existing avocado investments in Tanzania and Mozambique, for a total of more than 1,250 hectares (3,089 acres) of production.”

Now AgDevCo is returning with a further capital commitment to Agris that will serve to strengthen fresh food production and distribution in East Africa. 

“This investment will help us deploy innovative agri-business practices, to consistently and sustainably produce high-quality fruit and vegetables for the local market and consumers overseas, and continue growing with our partners,” said Kadosh. 

“It’s the type of transformation we need to see across East African agriculture – to accelerate the region’s integration into global food systems so that African producers play a larger role in global food security.”

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and Agtech Intel News. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

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