PROAJI/PIZCA UPDATE
Both agriculture teams for Ecuador and Peru are operational, albeit with certain mobility restrictions.
Seedling production and new transplants are continuing at projected pace, these new fields will be coming into production in about four months.
Access to fields is somewhat constrained due to local quarantine rules, our agronomist are providing most of the technical advice and supervision via WhatsApp or phone calls.
Certain isolated Indigenous communities in the Peruvian and Ecuadorean Amazon basin have set their own mobility rules, these are very strict so getting peppers out of these areas is complex but not impossible, we have worked with leaders of these communities to obtain permits to transfer the fruit to our processing plants.
Currently we’ve modified how peppers are transported to our processing plants, prior to COVID19 farmers would deliver the peppers themselves, with the new procedure we send our own truck to specific drop-off locations where we pickup the fresh peppers from several farmers. This way we’ve reduced drastically traffic into the plant by having only one truck come to deliver peppers.
Most of our office personnel is able to work from home, for processing we have teams that come and work on specific days of the week, reducing volume of personnel in the plant and actually improving efficiencies.
We can easily get fuel like diesel and propane gas so our dryers and steam generators can keep working with no issues.
So far we have not had major issues regarding exports, both sea and air shipments have been going out fairly problem free. Agriculture and export companies in both countries are given priority permits in order to be able to operate.
Our whole supply chain is counting on our clients, that orders continue to come and that we can continue to do our part in order to fill them.
Our local economies are extremely fragile so being able to buy, process and sell peppers is a much welcomed boost for the well-being of our farmers, suppliers and employees.
Lastly, we truly hope that you, members of your family and members of your company stay safe and healthy, so far we at Proaji and Pizca have all been spared of contracting the virus, fingers crossed.
"Success is best when it's shared."
Howard Schultz