Fruit and vegetable exports (including bananas) could amount to 1.580 billion within the next 15 years when Colombia implements the projects that the Ministry of Commerce, through the program of productive transformation (PTP), designed to empower this sector in the world market.
"We could start being recognized as a leading country in five years", said the Manager of the PTP, César Peñaloza, referring to the opportunities that the 200 products with potential that Colombia growers have, seven of which were prioritised: pineapple, mango, strawberry, papaya, onion, red pepper and avocado.
"We chose them (with the help of the private sector) because they have an important international market, large volumes are handled, they enjoy a comparative advantage and we have the possibility to produce them continuously, which makes us competitive", he said.
The business plans for these seven products were published in December 2013, specifying how the activity in the country was in comparison to other producing countries in the world; now the PTP is working together with the Rural Planning Unit (Upra) on finalizing a zoning map that identifies the places most suitable for each crop is. The map will be published in July.
"Defining the specialized areas means looking for places that have the best conditions for production, according to climate and soil types, and cross referencing that information with logistics: routes, labour availability. So we get to know the ideal conditions to become competitive not only in the foreign market but also internally," said Peñaloza.
The next step (projected for 2017) will be to develop production models or technological packages that specify activities, such as preparation of the soil, planting, management, pruning and phytosanitary control, aimed at achieving the demands required by importers.
Finally, the producers will be trained, via partnerships, in the adoption of these models and there will be investment stimuli generated so that a natural migration should be given to the areas previously identified.
Each business plan also includes some 50 activities for each product (70% apply to other fruits and vegetables), so the PTP is still defining which will be a priority to progressively achieve sufficient product quality to meet the international offer.
One of the difficulties identified, for example, is the need for better infrastructure. "Trucks can remain for one or two days, which increases the cost of transportation. There are also some practices at the time of the inspection where the container doors are opened and the cold chain is broken," lamented the manager.
Finally, Guiovanni Zambrano, manager of PTP fruit and vegetable sector, said they were working on the construction of platforms of integrated management, i.e. "infrastructure in the productive regions to have facilities for post-harvest, for gathering, selecting, classifying, and packaging, as well as services such as cold chain for fruits and vegetables so that they arrive at their destination in mint conditions."
Transversal activities of the PTP
Beyond these commitments, the PTP is working on three strategies that will complement what has been agreed on. First, they are preparing the sector to meet the challenges by training producers to carry out activities at a business level. They are also seeking to overcome difficulties related to competitiveness by standardizing the process of seed selection to export. Finally, they will boost access to international markets through certifications in quality, such as Global GAP, that are demanded by importers.
The opinion of César Peñaloza, Manager of the PTP
"Many of our activities seek to minimize the intermediation chain to lower costs and the reduction of food handling times".
Source: larepublica.co