Situation Report, October 2020

Bali

Welcome from Bali. The rainy season has started, at the correct time of year for a wonder not sure that we noticed it finish. Nevertheless, the vanilla has not suffered as there has been plenty of sunshine and we are beginning to see flowers. One change since the last report is that mask wearing in public is now almost universal.

Due to a new law fining anyone Rp100,000 if they aren’t wearing one. Apparently they can clean up rubbish instead if they wish.

Administration

We have finally received the outstanding licence and are now considering using an agent to get the work permits rather than have Ani do the work, as it is some what complicated
Share certificates are being sorted and should be out soon, along with a special addition which will be a surprise for you.

Marketing

The website is coming along and nearly ready, along with a companion new prospectus These will enable us to get the sales of shares up to planned levels
We have invoices out worth over $50,000 and we need to come up with a way to persuade investors to pay immediately, as poor Ani is unable to make projections.
We have promises of another $200,000 of investment, but that is not at the invoice stage.

Plantations

We are seeing flowers in Gardens 2,3 & 4 which should give us a small crop next year, sufficient to start to interest buyers.

Gardens 11,12 and 13 are cleared and the raised beds are being constructed. We need to get the gamal shade trees in right now as it is the optimal season for planting them.

Laboratory

Diego has overcome a contamination problem, now seeing a 5% failure rate in cultures of vanilla rather than the original 95%!

This is an important step in creating new plants and we will need as lot very soon. He has germinated a number of seeds from our crop top increase the genetic diversity. Perhaps the first time in 200 years since vanilla left Mexico.

When the plants are all from cuttings, you expose yourself to potential crop failure as they are all exactly the same. The small lab curing facility is in place and operating. This will enable him to confirm theory and create the large room for next year's crop.

Other Products

Long pepper being provided to very small numbers of potential restaurants, but it really is a tough market in the current conditions  The restaurants are barely able to survive  We have a trial going on with a major hotel chain.

The test bird house is in operation, no birds yet. They can take a year to come, and we still don't have their perfume. This smells like rotten eggs, attracts the right birds and stops the wrong species coming in.

Lion’s mane fungus, the first test didn’t go well, but taught us that we cannot grow it in the fake tree trunks used for oyster mushrooms  Buckets are the next test.

Next month

The focus stays on getting gardens 11,12 and 13 ready. It will be three months before the shade trees are big enough to allow planting vanilla, so we shall also be preparing the young plants.

To enhance our ethical investment opportunity we shall continue to experiment with different shade trees. We don't like monoculture. In the same vein, we are testing various companion plants.  We can use Morenga at low levels

Other business

We have signed an  strategic alliance with Asia Global, who have strong connections to China and New Zealand in particular for export trade. This Alliance provides is with markets for our goods, project finance and expertise.

The first project is healthy juices from unusual plants, in high demand in China currently working out the sums. A second project is a replacement crop for palm oil, which we are looking at.