MILAN (ITALPRESS) – “For us, today’s Bf in Italy is also the best example to introduce ourselves to the agriculture sector in other continents. We have received several delegations from African countries in our offices in Jolanda di Savoia in Cortona and Arborea and Marrubiu in Sardegna, presenting our working methods to grow agricultural and social communities”. This was stated by Federico Vecchioni, the CEO of BF in an interview with the daily newspaper Domani.
BF started its internationalization journey in 2023, with the creation of BF International. Its plan is ambitious: investments in 40 countries worldwide, 30 of which are African, based on a vision of equal collaboration, with an average of 10 thousand hectares of cultivated area and a thirty-year vision. The first countries involved are Algeria, Egypt, and Ghana.
“Agriculture has once again become central in the economies of all countries, regardless of the GDP and the ability to generate wealth,” he explained, adding, “The emergencies of recent years, such as Covid or conflicts, have caught this world unprepared. Today everyone has understood that agriculture is essential, in terms of strategy. It is not just food, it is much more, it is conservation of natural resources, it is employment, it is technology, it is the healthiness of food and therefore the well-being of human beings”.
Federico Vecchioni remarked that as an agriculturally driven economic project, a high-tech integrated agro-industrial infrastructure like Bf would have been considered unfeasible 15 years ago. “It is from these considerations that the Africa plan was born: seeing the next 30 years as an opportunity for those who have developed our ability to manage land capital”.
“The logic according to which food commodities could only come from certain areas of the world and that other countries could therefore do without producing or doing agriculture has been exposed,” underlined Federico Vecchioni.
“When the Haiti disaster occurred in 2010, the European Union wanted to send wheat as food aid but our warehouses were empty. Today, no one can afford not to have their national supply, which is the result of a policy that links it to the growth of the agricultural sector. This is the reality for economies with high per capita income, such as the Gulf countries, as well as African countries. The events of recent years have shown that moving away from agricultural production exposed food security risks, not only on a qualitative but also quantitative level. It is therefore a geopolitical mistake and not just an economic one. There will be a rebalancing of forces in the future, and agricultural production will be more transversal and less concentrated. Countries that were net importers, such as those in North Africa, are facing the problem of having their storage and production for their growing populations, as in the case of Egypt”.
“In Africa,” added the CEO of Bf, “we do not acquire land but enhance its value. As our advisor, Bcg attests in his competitive analysis, that such a project on a global scale is not equal in the agricultural and food sector. In the world, some multinationals sell products or sovereign funds that buy land”. Federico Vecchioni remarked: “Our approach, however, is opposite to both models. We want to carry out long-term projects, leaving what we produce on the local agricultural market. Therefore, Algerian wheat will remain in Algeria, I specify this because there have been wrong or instrumental interpretations on this aspect. Algerian President Tebboune wants to bring the country to food self-sufficiency and our presence is with a view to collaboration on strategic objectives. This method is different from land grabbing simply because land is not bought,” explained Vecchioni. He emphasized: “Ownership remains within the local communities, investments remain on the ground. People are not exported. Instead, the existing human capital is valorized. Through local partners with whom we build alliances, we pay attention to the social and environmental impacts where we operate. We invest in future generations, as we are doing in Italy with young farmers”.
Regarding the choice of countries from where to start, “there are supply chains closer to us, such as large crops from cereals to legumes to animal farm management,” he declared. There is an interest that arises from the historical vocation of our research. We started from countries such as Algeria or Ghana, where relationships linked to experimentation and research or to economic relations that were not consolidated but still present were already underway. In other countries, such as Egypt, it was the Italian embassies that created opportunities at the time when Bf Spa entered the international market. Furthermore, in April we completed the acquisition of Agriconsulting Europe, which has long experience in European relations with various African countries and has made agricultural relations with economies such as those of Congo, Brazzaville, Kenya, Angola or Senegal available to us”.
“I believe it is important,” underlined the CEO of Bf, “to implement economic development projects dedicated to each country, with an innovative approach but which can be assimilated at the right time with a gradual technological transfer. The creation of a model farm for 5 to 10 thousand hectares, like the ones we are planning, will create production centers that will create righteous effects even in the current context because they interact with communities, small farmers, and artisans, bringing technological transfer, preparation, and professionalism. We will revitalize vast uncultivated territories, where it is easier to introduce new digital or regenerative agriculture technologies that are more consistent with climate change”.
“There is an interaction that I consider virtuous and complementary – he added -. The Mattei Plan is a political act of our government, with an economic and social impact. Ours is the industrial plan of a private entity that has allocated resources to implement it The political vision unites the actions in progress”.
“In countries where plans coexist, it could certainly be by the Italian system and which Bf is part of it”, he continued.
“The Bf plan envisages interventions in many countries, including those in the Mattei Plan. There has not been a joint development temporally, but there will be a joint implementation. We will make investments in countries included in the Mattei Plan and the forces in the field will be able to act in a complementary way”. Then, after Africa “there will certainly be Latin America, in particular, Brazil. Certainly, Eurasia, because countries like Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have very interesting agricultural areas. Finally, there is the Middle East, countries where there is little land but investments in food security of 85 billion dollars”.
– photo Agenzia Fotogramma –
(ITALPRESS).