Article taken from The Fruit Grower Magazine
Delivering quality coir to Britain’s fruit, vegetable and nursery growers is at the heart of Botanicoir’s business. In 10 short years, this UK based company has developed a top class reputation for supplying reliable and consistent products that continue to grow popularity across the industry.
In the UK, Botanicoir has partnered with Agrovista to supply its products to growers. “Our partnership with Agrovista has been key to our success in the UK market,” explains Botanicoir managing director Kalum Balasuriya. “Our relationship has gone from strength to strength, and we’re looking forward to working closely with them for many more years to come.”
According to Kalum, the UK and worldwide success of the business is down to maintaining strong relationships with growers, as well as sustaining a high standard of product. “The company has largely grown through word of mouth, which is always our most reliable form of marketing. We try to mark ourselves apart from other coir producers, in terms of product quality, expertise and customer support, and each year we take growers over to Sri Lanka to see the operation for themselves. Transparency in the way we work is very important to us,” says Kalum.
Two Herefordshire based soft fruit growers have visited the Botanicoir production facilities to discover more about the provenance of their products. George Leeds, director at Withers Fruit Farm, currently grows strawberries across 60ha of farmland near Ledbury. He was invited to Sri Lanka to discover more about Botanicoir’s processing methods, from the raw coconut husk right through to the bagged coir. George is very pleased with the consistency of the coir products. “We find the service to be very good and the product has a good open texture and great quality, which is a key factor for producing such a large crop.”
Eric Drummond, director of EC Drummond at Ross-on-Wye also visited the Sri Lankan processing plant. He says, “It’s really good to see, first hand, just how environmentally friendly the whole process is. Producing using by-products from coconuts is a tremendous opportunity for people in Sri Lanka, and Bontanicoir brings in their employees first-world benefits. It was fascinating to understand the entire process from the raw coconut research station, and learned about the different types of processes,” adds Eric.
The production process requires understanding as well as attention to detail, something the Sri Lankan team are highly skilled in. “We strive to make the best product possible; we have regular training sessions and seminars for our employees in Sri Lanka enabling them to consistently make the best product. They are very proud of what they do and this in turn promotes staff retention, which is key to maintaining our quality standards,” explains Kalum Balasuriya. “We work closely with all our customer, their feedback is vital to us and the way we grow as a company. We always listen to their views to improve the product we supply,” says Kalum. “For instance, we used to supply coir in bulk bales, and our growers told us they would find bags more useful, so in 2006 we starting supplying growbags. After years of research and development, in 2012 we launched our Precision Plus brand, which has seen huge success with strawberry growers across the industry,” he says.
Supplying growers with coir substrate from Sri Lanka is no easy task, and 2015 has been no exception, with the comp0any and its employees struggling against unprecedented heavy rains lasting for almost a year. The weather, without a doubt, is our biggest challenge as our coir is dried naturally before it is compressed and transported. “Our main priority is our growers, and we are always completely upfront with them about issues such as these. And in response to changing weather patterns, we’re investing in a drying facility, to ensure that in the future we can be proactive and avoid the issues that the weather brings.”
The business celebrated its 10th anniversary this summer, and is still growing. In 2005 the company started out selling bales of coir, one container load was shipped from Sri Lanka. Today they supply 450 containers of coir worldwide, to 46 countries including Spain, Turkey, Morocco, USA, Norway and Jordan.
Kalum is confident in Botanicoirs clear global distribution strategy. “We are very particular about who we work with when it comes to distributing our products. Our global partners play a key role promoting Botanicoir products across the world. The quality of our products, coupled with their hard work and their credibility, has brought Botanicoir to where it is today.”
“Supplying growbags was a fundamental change for the company, and the value added bags such as Precision Plus have helped to grow our supply of coir to the UK and global markets. Our progression can largely be attributed to word of mouth. In this industry, reputations are important, and we strive to maintain Botanicoirs highly thought of status in the market. We have worked hard to gain ourselves a good reputation for quality and service across all our markets, and we strive to defend this position going forward,” adds Kalum.
Delivering quality coir to Britain’s fruit, vegetable and nursery growers is at the heart of Botanicoir’s business. In 10 short years, this UK based company has developed a top class reputation for supplying reliable and consistent products that continue to grow popularity across the industry.
In the UK, Botanicoir has partnered with Agrovista to supply its products to growers. “Our partnership with Agrovista has been key to our success in the UK market,” explains Botanicoir managing director Kalum Balasuriya. “Our relationship has gone from strength to strength, and we’re looking forward to working closely with them for many more years to come.”
According to Kalum, the UK and worldwide success of the business is down to maintaining strong relationships with growers, as well as sustaining a high standard of product. “The company has largely grown through word of mouth, which is always our most reliable form of marketing. We try to mark ourselves apart from other coir producers, in terms of product quality, expertise and customer support, and each year we take growers over to Sri Lanka to see the operation for themselves. Transparency in the way we work is very important to us,” says Kalum.
Two Herefordshire based soft fruit growers have visited the Botanicoir production facilities to discover more about the provenance of their products. George Leeds, director at Withers Fruit Farm, currently grows strawberries across 60ha of farmland near Ledbury. He was invited to Sri Lanka to discover more about Botanicoir’s processing methods, from the raw coconut husk right through to the bagged coir. George is very pleased with the consistency of the coir products. “We find the service to be very good and the product has a good open texture and great quality, which is a key factor for producing such a large crop.”
Eric Drummond, director of EC Drummond at Ross-on-Wye also visited the Sri Lankan processing plant. He says, “It’s really good to see, first hand, just how environmentally friendly the whole process is. Producing using by-products from coconuts is a tremendous opportunity for people in Sri Lanka, and Bontanicoir brings in their employees first-world benefits. It was fascinating to understand the entire process from the raw coconut research station, and learned about the different types of processes,” adds Eric.
The production process requires understanding as well as attention to detail, something the Sri Lankan team are highly skilled in. “We strive to make the best product possible; we have regular training sessions and seminars for our employees in Sri Lanka enabling them to consistently make the best product. They are very proud of what they do and this in turn promotes staff retention, which is key to maintaining our quality standards,” explains Kalum Balasuriya. “We work closely with all our customer, their feedback is vital to us and the way we grow as a company. We always listen to their views to improve the product we supply,” says Kalum. “For instance, we used to supply coir in bulk bales, and our growers told us they would find bags more useful, so in 2006 we starting supplying growbags. After years of research and development, in 2012 we launched our Precision Plus brand, which has seen huge success with strawberry growers across the industry,” he says.
Supplying growers with coir substrate from Sri Lanka is no easy task, and 2015 has been no exception, with the comp0any and its employees struggling against unprecedented heavy rains lasting for almost a year. The weather, without a doubt, is our biggest challenge as our coir is dried naturally before it is compressed and transported. “Our main priority is our growers, and we are always completely upfront with them about issues such as these. And in response to changing weather patterns, we’re investing in a drying facility, to ensure that in the future we can be proactive and avoid the issues that the weather brings.”
The business celebrated its 10th anniversary this summer, and is still growing. In 2005 the company started out selling bales of coir, one container load was shipped from Sri Lanka. Today they supply 450 containers of coir worldwide, to 46 countries including Spain, Turkey, Morocco, USA, Norway and Jordan.
Kalum is confident in Botanicoirs clear global distribution strategy. “We are very particular about who we work with when it comes to distributing our products. Our global partners play a key role promoting Botanicoir products across the world. The quality of our products, coupled with their hard work and their credibility, has brought Botanicoir to where it is today.”
“Supplying growbags was a fundamental change for the company, and the value added bags such as Precision Plus have helped to grow our supply of coir to the UK and global markets. Our progression can largely be attributed to word of mouth. In this industry, reputations are important, and we strive to maintain Botanicoirs highly thought of status in the market. We have worked hard to gain ourselves a good reputation for quality and service across all our markets, and we strive to defend this position going forward,” adds Kalum.