The blueberry harvest is in full swing and the venture located in Yatasto has suffered some difficulties due to the lack of workers to hand pick the fruits in time.
José María Royo, one of the officers of the Extraberries SA Company, said they had estimated they would need about 4,000 workers for this campaign.
"Despite all the advertising campaigns and outreach we did, we could only summon 3,750 people and only 3,108 of them are working because the rest did not show up," Royo told The Tribune.
They are mainly residents of San Jose de Metan, Rosario de la Frontera, El Galpon, Rio Piedras and other towns from Salta and different provinces.
"We've had to abandon 40 acres because we don't have the necessary manpower. That is, we've lost some 500,000 kilos of blueberries because the fruit has to have the same quality. If it's not harvested in time, it will be too ripe so it won't be good for the international market," he said.
There still is some fruit that needs to be harvested, so the company continues hiring workers. The expectation is to collect 2,000 tons of blueberries in this campaign, which will extend through November.
This is one of the largest ventures in Argentina and South America, as they have 197 hectares of different varieties of fruit plants. The venture is located in Yatasto, 15 kilometres south of Metán.
The company exports twelve varieties of blueberries to America and Europe.
The administrator, Lucio Agustín Cornejo, said the next goal is to harvest 4,000 tons.
Source: El Tribuno