Dakado
Dakado Group Production was formed in 1991 as an agribusiness in Dak Lak province. In 2010, when the group was officially registered with the local Peoples’ Committee, the group consisted of 100 initial members. Out of this group, in 2007 the Thu Nhon Limited Company was established as the first officially licensed company of the group.
Dakado-ThuNhon is a production and trading group specializing in producing avocado, pepper, and macadamia (a new high-quality crop introduced in 2016). It has two processing factories in Ho Chi Minh City (officially licensed in 2015, named KADO VN JSC) and in Dak Lak province (in the central highlands region). Its products meet the quality standards of HACCP, Vietgap, Global Gap (for avocado and macadamia), and Rainforest (for pepper). Avocado is sold mostly in domestic market and traded to China and Cambodia; pepper is 100 per cent exported, and macadamia will be sold to mostly domestic market and partially to official export market.
In 2016, the company introduced an intercropping model of avocado with pepper to increase the income for the farmers. With some modifications to increase its social impact, this business line could qualify as IB.
The company provided the farmers with seeds, fertilizers, a demonstration farm, and technical training on safe production (proper use of plant protection and fertilizer inputs). Under a program financed by the World Bank, the company subsidized 40 per cent of the input costs for the farmers.
From 300 households in 2016, Dakado Group is now working with around 1000 households (300 intercropping avocado and pepper, 500 avocadoes, and 200 macadamia), and it is planning to double the number of contract farmers and upscale social reach to 2,000 farmers by 2023. About 60-70 per cent of the farmers are women, and 90 per cent are from poor or low-income households. Macadamia farmers are very poor ethnic minorities in Eakar and Eahleo district of Dak Lak province. By working with the company and applying intercropping of avocado and pepper, the farmers could potentially increase their income within 3 years by 8-10 per cent. Income increased 6 per cent in pepper, 20 per cent for Dakado avocado and 5 per cent for normal avocado.