| Mississauga, ON Canada and Sacramento, CA USA (April 7, 2020) – Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. (the “Company” or “BVT”) (TSXV: BEE) (OTCQB: BEVVF) (CVE:BEE) today announced that it will start conducting trials in Morocco, a significant market opportunity for its proprietary bee-delivered crop productivity system. The Company is also in discussions with well-established commercial partners in the region who have expressed interest in collaborating with BVT to bring the Company’s system to market for growers in Morocco. One potential partner that has been in the Moroccan market for decades will roll out a significant trial program covering four different crops, including strawberry, raspberry, blueberry and tomato crops.
“Approximately 40%(1) of Morocco’s workforce is employed in the agriculture industry, and it contributes around 16%(2) of the national GDP,” said Ashish Malik, CEO of Bee Vectoring Technologies. “Morocco has 26,000 hectares (3) of greenhouse production. Our early assessment has identified an estimated 3,000 ha of strawberries, 2,000 ha of raspberries, 2,000 ha of blueberries and 6,000 ha of tomatoes(4) which are all great initial targets for us, but the overall opportunity is expected to be much greater. Substantial exports to the EU, the US east coast, Russia and Africa, make it a significant market with tremendous opportunity for BVT. Moroccan growers are well versed in the use of bumble bees in these crops, so this market is a perfect fit for us.”
Morocco’s climate gives the country a distinct agricultural advantage of being able to grow berries 10 months of the year. Strawberries are currently the main berry crop, with tremendous growth in blueberry and raspberry production tripling over the past few years.(5)BVT demonstrations will commence in the summer season and will occur as the blooming period for tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries and raspberries occurs over the course of the calendar year.
“These large-scale demonstrations are the first stage in BVT’s path to commercialization in Morocco, and are the basis for major adoption of new on-farm technology,” continued Mr. Malik. “We chose Morocco to launch BVT’s efforts in Africa because the country is a large, progressive and growing exporter to the vast European marketplace.”
The sustainable agriculture movement is gaining momentum worldwide, and sustainability is at the heart of BVT’s technology. The company’s natural precision agriculture system replaces chemical pesticides and wasteful spray applications by delivering biological pesticide alternatives directly to crops using commercially grown bees.
“These demonstrations represent an opportunity for the Moroccan agricultural industry, and specifically growers, to see first-hand how well the BVT precision agriculture system works in controlling crop disease and improving yields in their local environment,” stated Mr. Malik. “They will help growers see how BVT’s unique natural precision agriculture system is able to make their operations more productive, profitable and sustainable.” | | About Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. BVT, an agriculture technology company, is a market disruptor with a significant global market opportunity in the $240 billion crop protection and fertilizer market. BVT has pioneered a natural precision agriculture system that replaces chemical pesticides and wasteful plant protection product spray applications by delivering biological pesticide alternatives to crops using commercially grown bees. BVT’s award-winning technology, precision vectoring, is completely harmless to bees and allows minute amounts of naturally-derived pesticides (called biologicals) to be delivered directly to blooms, providing improved crop protection and yield results than traditional chemical pesticides – and improving the health of the soil, the microbiome and the environment. Currently, BVT has over 65 granted patents, over 35 patents pending in all major agricultural countries worldwide, and has US EPA registration of its VECTORITE™ with CR-7 (EPA Registration No. 90641-2) for sale as a registered biological fungicide for use on the labeled crops. Additional information can be viewed at the Company’s website www.beevt.com. To receive regular news updates from the Company, subscribe at www.beevt.com/newsletter. Contact:
Ashish Malik, President & CEO
info@beevt.com
Babak Pedram, Investor Relations
Virtus Advisory Group
Tel: 416-995-8651
bpedram@virtusadvisory.com Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is defined in applicable Canadian securities legislation. The words "may", "would", "could", "should", "potential", "will", "seek", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions as they relate to the Company, “annual revenue potential”, are intended to identify forward-looking information. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking information. Such statements reflect the Company’s current views and intentions with respect to future events, and current information available to the Company, and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including: planted acres of strawberries in Florida, selling price of competitive chemical pesticides and the US to Canadian dollar exchange rate. Material factors or assumptions were applied in providing forward-looking information. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking information to vary from those described herein should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize. These factors include changes in law, competition, litigation, the ability to implement business strategies and pursue business opportunities, state of the capital markets, the availability of funds and resources to pursue operations, new technologies, the ability to protect intellectual property rights, the ability to obtain patent protection for products, third-party intellectual property infringement claims, regulatory changes affecting products, failing research and development activities, the ability to reach and sustain profitability, dependence on business and technical experts, the ability to effectively manage business operations and growth, issuance of debt, dilution of existing securities, volatility of publicly traded securities, potential conflicts of interest, unlikelihood of dividend payments, the potential costs stemming from defending third-party intellectual property infringement claims, the ability to secure relationships with manufacturers and purchasers, as well as general economic, market and business conditions, as well as those risk factors discussed or referred to in the Company’s Filing Statement dated May 29, 2015, filed with the securities regulatory authorities in certain provinces of Canada and available at www.sedar.com. Should any factor affect the Company in an unexpected manner, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, the actual results or events may differ materially from the results or events predicted. Any such forward-looking information is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Moreover, the Company does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this press release is made as of the date of this press release and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable law. All figures are in Canadian dollars. | | | |