2013 brought losses for garlic producers as the price paid for this product was very cheap, said Guillermo Narvaez Avila, representative of the garlic producers.
He explained that there had been delays at the beginning of sowing because of the rains. The idea was to plant the product in September but they couldn't do it until November, thus, they were unable to plant 30 percent of the surface.
He also explained that producers weren't making profits because the price of a kilo of garlic was about 7 pesos while the cost of producing that same kilogram was 10 pesos.
"Sale prices didn't even cover production costs; it was a difficult year, we had losses and the prices were very low, many farmers are under-capitalized," he said.
In El Mineral, there are around 20 garlic producers who work 400 hectares in various communities such as Altamira, Pardillo Tercero, Pardillo Segundo and Santiaguillo.
Narvaez Avila said that is the second consecutive season that they did poorly and that they expected the production and marketing prices to be better in 2014.
In addition, garlic producers had a hard time making an income as most of them also plant vegetables such as tomatoes, tomatillos and onions, which also had very low prices.
Source: ntrzacatecas.com