Much more than just selling feed

Johan Verhoek is Koudijs’ animal nutrition’s area manager in Africa. Johan is dedicated to maintaining good business relationships with his customers on this continent. Not just when it comes to selling feed, but also in supporting them to achieve the best possible results.

OOur meeting point for this story is the ‘museum room’ at Koudijs head office in Ede, the Netherlands. Here, we speak with Africa area manager Johan Verhoek. ‘In this room, we collect and display all kinds of gifs that we received from customers from around the world and memorabilia we have saved over many years’, Johan starts to tell. A unique collection! The items in the room are testimony to De Heus’ global presence. Among the collection is a vintage Koudijs sign from when they was still an independent Dutch animal nutrition company, before they were acquired by De Heus. As one of only a few Dutch animal feed companies, the former company Koudijs-Wouda had been prominent in the export of concentrates since the 1950s. Koudijs enjoyed huge brand familiarity and loyalty among local farmers. After the acquisition, this was an important reason to retain the name for the export activities.

Increasing farmers’ knowledge

‘We do more than just selling animal feed’, Johan continues. ‘It is our aim to provide the most viable feed solution to our customers throughout Africa. This is more than just bringing concentrates. Offering a good-quality product at an attractive price, aligned with farmers’ needs. And assisting and supporting farmers wherever we can assures the best profit for them.’ ‘Management on the farm is extremely important to keep the birds healthy and let them produce optimally. If we can contribute to improve the management on the farm, the results of our customers will be more competitive. In this way, we expect to establish an ongoing business relationship with them.’ Johan continues: ‘An example is the “poultry coach app” management tool that we developed in Uganda. Through this app, we aim to increase farmers’ knowledge of the life cycle of chickens. The key idea of the app is that the farmer receives daily advice tailored to the age of his flock. This starts with daily feeding recommendations. However, the app also covers other technical aspects, such as ventilation and the height of feeders.’ ‘We organise numerous training sessions for the farmers. In an accessible way, knowledge is shared. Farmers are trained and coached and given tips&tricks, which they can immediately apply in practice, increasing productivity and thus the farm’s income. This in turn enables farmers to improve their personal quality of life.’

We see the benefits for the agricultural sector

PHOTO: AD BAL

Experimental setting for feed research.

We aim to increase farmers’ knowledge

Using local ingredients

‘This is what we call “Feeding Perfomance”. Making a permanent mark. Supporting our farmers by tapping into their experiences, assisting them in their business and becoming more competitive in their market. We see the benefits for the agricultural sector. Not only through more competitive prices stimulating better performance, but also through the use of local ingredients creating value for more than just the livestock farmers.’

Recycling bags

In Africa all the feed is bagged in 50 kg polypropylene bags. ‘We stimulate the collection of the empty bags to prevent them ending up in the environment.’ Each retuned bag will create a discount on their new purchase. The empty bags will be recycled to pallets, poles and also re-usable shopper bags. ‘All in all, everything we do must from the very beginning fit into the De Heus and Koudijs philosophy and values. We have done so in the past and we will keep doing so in the future’, Johan Verhoek concludes.