The Navarre factory, which employs 70 people, exceeded 100,000 tonnes of production last year, while its commercial distribution network exceeded twenty markets around the world. In addition, the Caja Rural de Navarra subsidiary has received more than 5 million euros in subsidies from the Directorate General for Business Development. Currently, Harivenasa aims to ‘bring oats to all households, contribute to the welfare of families and the development of the local economy’.
These figures were announced during a visit by the Regional Minister for Industry and Ecological and Digital Business Transition of the Government of Navarre, Mikel Irujo, to the company’s headquarters in the town of Etxarren in Navarre. Also present at the meeting were Javier Berazaluce, head of Investment Development at Caja Rural; Alberto Loizate, general manager of Harivenasa; and Ana Carreras, the company’s marketing director, who explained the evolution of the company and the challenges it has faced.
The company’s commercial brand, ‘Alea’, is present in markets as varied as Kenya and Lebanon, and its managers have set as their main objective to increase their presence mainly on the African continent. Likewise, another of the lines of work they have decided to focus on has to do with the sustainability of their project. Thus, for example, its Etxarren production centre is equipped with the latest technologies and has the highest environmental qualifications in terms of electricity consumption and other resources linked to its daily operation.
On the other hand, they work on local development, for which they use local or ‘zero kilometre’ raw materials made by local producers, located within a radius of 100 kilometres from their factory. In addition to all of the above, there is also a third commitment based on raising awareness and training with educational centres with which it has various agreements so that children not only learn about the natural environment but also become familiar with the regular consumption of oats, as part of a practice that aims to promote the development of healthy habits and lifestyles from an early age.
In this respect, Harivenasa is another benchmark example within the agri-food sector in Navarre which, as a whole, records an annual turnover of over 4,500 million euros, of which 1,129 million euros correspond to the primary sector. Moreover, this activity accounts for 5% of total regional GDP and 14% of industrial GDP. Its exports represent 12% of the total sales made by the region outside its borders and it employs more than 25,000 people, as shown in the report detailed in our section ‘Strategic Sectors in Navarre’, which can be accessed via the following link.
Source: diariodenavarra.es