15 TREND SETTING YEARS

Now on its 15th year, AgriLink has carved out a premier niche in agribusiness trade exhibitions. Each year, it has been not only world class, but also the biggest agribusiness exhibit. The key factors of quality and size of the exhibit, and the convenience of having under one roof the largest array of international and local suppliers with their leading experts in attendance enables AgriLink to attract an unmatched number of quality visitors. The business generated during the exhibit in turn keeps the exhibitors coming back.

AgriLink has helped stakeholders select the best inputs, technology, systems and linkages to enhance their respective enterprise. In doing so, AgriLink has helped Philippine agriculture modernize, become more productive and competitive. Agrilink has become the venue for the entire gamut of agribusiness stakeholders to come together, interact and get updates through seminars on the latest developments and concerns.

AgriLink has become the year-ending event wherein the government, principally the Department of Agriculture and its attached agencies, highlights their programs, policies and performance. It is also an occassion when both the government and the private sector decision makers interact to better complement each other’s effort at enhancing agricultural growth.

Holding FoodLink simultaneously with AgriLink provides a broader perspective of the interrelated food and agriculture sectors. These enable and encourage both sectors to keep up to date with developments, opportunities and concerns all the way from farm inputs to retail shelves. FoodLink has stood hand-in-hand with AgriLink to promote competitiveness in products, equipment, global packaging, strategic marketing and other key food-related services. On the production side, it helps focus on availability of non-traditional or new crops and on the market side, it focuses on demand of niche food markets. Opportunities to promote producers products and for buyers to sample in-demand items are highlighted in the retail section.

The third exhibit, AquaLink focuses on the fisheries sector, which has shown the greatest improvement over the past years. Aquaculture remains the fastest growing sector in fisheries and agriculture in general. With greater government impetus, it will be a main growth driver of agriculture.

These three events underscore the most up-to-date and ground-breaking inputs, technologies and alliances, which can develop the productivity, competitiveness and profitability of the interdependent industries of agriculture, aquaculture and food.

PRODUCTS IN FEATURE

Agricultural Chemicals • Animal Housing and Breeding • Animal Health and
Nutrition • Aquaculture • Equipments and Inputs • Communication and
Information Technology • Dairy Products • Equipment and Machinery • Facilities
on Cooling and Storage • Facilities on Post Harvest • Feed Ingredients • Feed
Milling • Fertilizers and Pest Management • Financial Institutions • Fishery Products •
Food Ingredient and Additives • Food Packaging • Food Processing • Fruits and
Vegetables • Greenhouse and Nursery • Horticulture Inputs • Meat Products • Organic
Farming and Hydroponics • Publications • Research and Consultancy • Seeds and Planting
Materials • Irrigation Systems • Transport and Logistics • Waste Management

LAST YEAR ON AGRILINK

In a country geographically divided as ours, getting farm goods to its final selling destination has always been a logistical nightmare. It has always been a problem of cost, time, freshness, shrinkage and regularity among others. Last year, AgriLink addressed this problem by highlighting the benefits of value adding.

Philippine Amalgamated Supermarkets Association (PAGASA) President Steven Cua who served as chairman of the 2007 triple exhibit pointed out that “One step towards the breaking of this logistical nightmare is producing Value-Added Agricultural Products (at the source). They not only fetch better prices for the fresh produce and livestock farmers but also provide meal preparation solutions for the consumers and end-users. Value-Added Agricultural Products come in all forms considering all types of farm produce.” These value-added products were visible and available in the retail and outdoor exhibits aside from the booths of Bureaus of Postharvest Research and Extension and Bureau of Animal Industry.

There were 18 seminars of topics of concern provided by the Bureaus of Fisheries and Agricultural research co-organizers and exhibitors. The Department of Agriculture and its affiliated agencies had a combined total of 221 square meters and held the awarding ceremonies of the department’s nation-wide search for outstanding agricultural and fisheries products and My Gulay Cooking contest among Metro Manila high schools.

Close to 215 companies were in attendance, occupying 273 indoor and retail booths. While a big chunk was local companies, there were also foreign exhibitors from Korea, Thailand, China, Indonesia, Germany, United Kingdom, and Belgium. The French and the Dutch had their respective pavilions and receptions. Registered visitors came close to 16,600 over the 3-day period.

RECOGNIZING NICHE MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES

Niche marketing is aiming a product or service at a segment of the market that is not being readily served by the mainstream product or service marketers. Almost every business sector such as fast food chains, convenience stores, even department stores of renowned malls have begun to fill perceived niches in the market place.

Although niche marketing usually refers to small or moderate size businesses or farms that generate a specialty product or service or a limited segment of the market, niches can be geographic areas, a specialty industry, ethnic or age groups, or any other particular group of people. Occasionally, a niche product can be a variation of a common product that is not produced and marketed by the major supply chains

Examples of such are goat’s milk/soaps, organically farmed fish, cockfighting equip- ments, low-fat salad dressings and other non-mainstream products that cater to a non- traditional market. This year, a specific objective of AgriLink is to connect these under- developed markets with suppliers of inputs and produce and to enhance the potential of the supply.