Gobierno de Canarias

This is the first publicly-owned organisation in the Islands which has developed a new marketing strategy based on the internal market. Already during the 2007 financial year, the results of the publicly-owned company were outstanding in this area: a total of nine million kilos of fruit and vegetables were sold as well as one and half million kilos of cheese. All of them were guaranteed in terms of safety, quality, traceability, labelling and presentation. The GMR Canarias products are on the shelves of many supermarkets and hypermarkets in the Islands. Directly from the country to the tables of the Canary Islanders.

But in the opinion of the Management of GMR Canarias this is not sufficient as only slightly more than 6% of the products bought by Canarian families are of local origin. The islands produce in round numbers a million tons of agricultural produce and the question is what is necessary in order to increase that amount at competitive prices.

According to the Managing Director of GMR Canarias, Águeda Fumero, "we have decided to become an operator of reference in the sector: we are going to open up a market for Canarian produce both inside and outside the islands and our aim is to help the farmer in everything we possibly can and what they need now are the necessary tools to improve the marketing channels. We shall give the support necessary in order to market more and better".

In this regard, the constant growth in the turnover and the profitability of the operations of GMR in 2008 "show that an operator can be efficient, taking care of the conditions of production and the profitability of the farmers. That is the role that the agency is looking for, that of being an effective operator and an arbiter who guarantees the conditions of the producers on the one hand and of working to increase the degree of local consumption of the produce of agriculture and fishing on the other".

In order to achieve these objectives, GMR Canarias has started a thorough process of internal restructuring. The new Strategic Plan, prepared during the first half of 2008, which has already been put into practice, has completely revised the organisation.

The administrative processes have been analysed, new quality brands have been started up and the system of internal and external communication of the agency has been improved. All of this has been done, according to Águeda Fumero, "while optimising resources, improving our efficiency and reducing costs as far as possible". The Managing Director explained that "the Strategic Plan of GMR Canarias will become a document with annual objectives, analysing our management and taking the pertinent corrective steps. We have started a process of ongoing improvement which will necessarily have results. It is a daring modernisation but we have to adapt to new times and the sector needs us", she concluded.

The Strategic Plan will set the guidelines for boosting the two powerful tools that the company has internally, that is to say, the Projects and Commercial Divisions, which complement each other to cover the needs of the primary sector.

The Projects Division will determine the new lines of work with the following criteria: observation of the market, the new customer segmentation and the human and technological resources available to the organisation for carrying out its corporate purpose. A purpose which is expressed as advice, training and information to the sector; new lines of research in agriculture and fishing; development of computer projects and technical training.

In order to improve marketing, "GMR Canarias will pay special attention to satisfying the demands of the consumer; for this purpose, it will use the new strategies of current-day marketing practice", in the words of Águeda Fumero.

As the head of the public agency that is attached to the Regional Ministry of Agriculture explains "GMR Canarias will use the new marketing strategies to improve the sales and the income of the farmer".

GMR Canarias starts from the basis that the Islands have a wide range of high-quality products and it is not possible to ignore the opportunity to take advantage of the gap in the market that this production involves, both inside and outside the islands. Fumero, as the Managing Director of GMR, is very much aware of this. Thus, what the public agency does is to analyse the needs, the supply and demand of the sector before designing its actions in the market. As a result of the foregoing, "given our character and vocation, we shall supply the farmers and livestock-keepers with the tools to market their products with a guarantee of success", underlines Águeda Fumero as she summarises the raison d'être of GMR Canarias.

In general terms, the Canarian primary sector has traditionally been ignorant of the knowledge and use of the different economic and commercial methods designed for purposes of selling. It is also true that, without those skills, agricultural, livestock-keeping and fishing companies located in the Canaries will have serious difficulties in competing in the near future under equal conditions with producers from other parts of the world. This is so as the agricultural professionals from the rest of Europe are aiming at the same consumers and in the same commercial spaces as the companies from the Canary Islands and they are indeed prepared and have been planning effectively for years.

For all these reasons, the main purpose defended by the management of GMR Canarias is to guarantee the income of the producers from the Islands when they market their produce, with the idea of increasing the size of that portfolio of products as a function of what Canarian consumers require.

"GMR is a leading company which works for the sector, so as to help the producer and to satisfy the final consumer", states Águeda Fumero.

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