At least 50% of the 1,300 avocado growers in Jalisco will have the potential of exporting to the United States, once the deadline established by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) is met, allowing entry of fruit from Jalisco through a new operation program.
According to the director of the Association of producers and exporters of avocado of Jalisco (Apeajal), Ignacio Gómez, the first 60 days that the USDA set to receive comments from the avocado industry about the entry of avocado from other states without considering Michoacan, came to an end on April 20.
At this point, he said, we are in a 130 days period in which the USDA takes the comments and makes the required changes, and then we would have complied with all the laws in exporting avocado from Jalisco to United States. This should take place at the end of 2015 (approximately by the end of October).
Internal challenges
However, Ignacio Gómez said, although the legal issue in the United States is marching favourably the producers from Jalisco still have to face other challenges within their own companies, which in some cases would delay sending their production to the neighbouring country.
"We have to work internally throughout the whole work system that Michoacan already has, the issue of traceability, control of the fruit's mobilization, etc. All linked to the fruit's health, safety and quality."
Producers of avocado from Jalisco are already working on these issues and, even though 10 municipalities (Farias, Zapotlán El Grande, Zapotiltic, Concepción de Buenos Aires, Mazamitla, Sayula, Tapalpa, La Manzanilla de la Paz, San Gabriel Valley Juarez) were certified free of quarantine diseases, "we have to adapt or equate our system to that in Michoacan so that they are similar or that Michoacan and Jalisco have a single system," he said.
According to the Ministry of Rural Development (Seder) there are 16,000 hectares of avocado in Jalisco, a significant increase compared with the 1,000 hectares that Jalisco had in the year 2000.
In 2014, Jalisco exported 28,000 tons of avocado, i.e. almost 30% of total production.
Source: eleconomista.com.mx