Operating Excellence (103-3)

Since the beginning, Wakate has been a company committed to sustainability and growth in harmony with natural resources, focused on the sustainable production and commercialization of Hass avocado. The production unit is located in Entre Arroyos, in the municipalities of Neira and Aranzazu, in the Department of Caldas.

Wakate has three lines of business:

Plant production

The Wakate Hass nursery, which is located at KM 41 in the jurisdiction of Manizales, has a production capacity of 600.000 Hass avocado trees per year, for its own supply and for sale to third parties.

Administrative processes were carried out with Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario – ICA for the sale of plant material to third parties. The Nursery complied with the applicable agricultural practices, regulations, technical assistance and traceability management for the plant material.

Fruit production

This is carried out in those farms where there are production units for planting and producing Hass avocados, for which the forecast is 2300 productive ha and over 1,000.000 trees.

Processing and commercialization of fruit and its by-products

This is done in a processing plant where fresh Hass avocado will be packed for its own supply and for sale to third parties. The plan is to set up a circular economy by processing the avocado byproducts. We expect to receive 78.000 tons of our own and third-party fruit.

Wakate sustainable development plan

The plan described below is implemented searching for a responsible value chain, care for and protection of the environment, and the creation of a social footprint by growing wellbeing and sustainable development in the regions where the company operates:

As part of good agricultural practices aimed at the sustainability, there are some interesting practices such as:

Weed control.
Bio control agents.
Apiculture and vermiculture.

Weed control

There are two classes of weed control:

Pre planting weed control: to set up any
crop for production, it is necessary to do wee control, using chemical or mechanical systems or by controlled fires.

When the soil has been used for raising cattle, the use of stoloniferous crops (as is typical for feeding cattle), it is necessary to use higher impact controls, such as agricultural chemical or controlled fires, to change the soil cover to noble plants.

To that end, weed control using herbicides on the Grass cover that is dominant in those areas. It should be noted that such a control is applied only one time during the life of the plantation and is done to decrease the pressure of the pastures n the avocado and to facilitate the growth of noble covers which have a lower rate of growth than grass and, therefore, cannot thrive in a pasture.

Permanent weed control: This a type of mechanical weed control in strips or streets (weed control on 6 m streets), using scythes to cut the weeds every 8 weeks.

Pests and plague control

There are many regulations about avocados which determine the type of agricultural chemicals that must be used and the trace amounts by group of other agrochemicals that may be applied or may be found in the avocado fruit; in addition, international certifications also regulate the use of agricultural chemicals to control pests and plagues.

Good agricultural practices: list of inputs approved by ICA for avocados.
Global Gap: is a framework for the developing crops according to good agricultural practices.
Rainforest Alliance: speaks to the maintenance and protection of natural resources. In addition, it regulates the easements that must be maintained when applying cultural chemicals close to forests and water sources (10 m easement).

Bio control agents

We are also implementing best and play control using biological methods, producing and releasing insects, fungi, and nematodes for natural control of the avocado pests.