Villa Crop Protection
Firmly Rooted in African SoilWriter: Emily JarvisProject Manager: Callum PhilpFor the past 21 years, Villa Crop Protection (Villa CP) has significantly contributed to South Africa’s agricultural industry via its unique and innovative approach to crop protection. Through massive investment in the development of its product portfolio, targeting products mainly towards “permanent crops”, or “export crops” – such as citrus fruits, table grapes, apples, pears - the Company is helping to protect the seeds of continued growth of the country’s strong agriculture exports. Agriculture remains a critically important industry in South Africa, and indeed many other African nations, not only as a provider of job opportunities but also from a food security perspective. Nearly 80 percent of arable land in South Africa is used for agricultural production, which amounts to more than 97.6 million hectares.With the sector contributing around 2.5 percent (US$8.7 billion) to South Africa’s GDP, Villa CP is keen to capitalise on this market segment, investing heavily in product development in order to provide a total solutions approach to crop protection, as opposed to providing standalone products to the market.After growing its turnover by 23 percent in the 2013-2014 financial year, Villa CP is now more confident than ever in its ability to invest its profits back into the business for the purpose of market share gain. “Based on the size of the local crop protection market at wholesale level, it is estimated that we currently hold a market share of just over 20 percent,” details Andre Schreuder, Managing Director (MD) of Villa CP.Further bolstering its aspirational growth…
Villa Crop Protection
Dedicated crop protection Villa CP has focused on the development and registration of "unique commodity" crop protection products, primarily aimed at meeting the specific needs of farmers in South Africa Writer Emily Jarvis Project Manager Callum Philp Since establishment in 1994, Villa CP has focused on the development and registration of "unique commodity" crop protection products, aimed primarily at meeting the specific needs of farmers in South Africa. The strategic direction of Villa CP is underpinned by a huge annual investment in product research and development. With a dedicated team that strive to be innovative in everything that they do, coupled with the mission to be customer centric and provide rapid response times for customers, the company "endeavour to help customers with all types of enquiries and needs," André Schreuder, Managing Director of Villa CP proudly says. Villa CP is based in Johannesburg, with a product formulation facility (Fountain Chemicals) located approximately halfway between Johannesburg and Pretoria. The regional head office and warehousing facility is located just outside of Cape Town, in order to better serve the Cape market. Sustainable Investments With the establishment of their own formulation facility three years ago, Fountain Chemicals joined the Villa Crop Protection/Exportos group as a manufacturing facility for the group and other interested parties in 2011. A new additional formulation plant for fungicide and insecticides (EC, EW, SC) has since been commissioned in June 2014, as part of a major refurbishment programme to upgrade the facility to meet international ISO standards. "Our ability to develop these unique product mixes…
