Quintana Roo produced about two thousand tons of jalapeño peppers in 2015, which were obtained through four cuts made in the southern part of the state.
However, according to the producers of jalapeños, they received no support from the government authorities to carry out the sowing as the Chili Product System that is chaired by José Luis Sánchez Chau, for example, is just a group that serves to divert resources and for self-enrichment.
"We had a very good harvest because we had four cuts in a row, something that we hadn't done in 20 years. The four and a half hectares on which I had yielded more than 100 tons of jalapeño and which I was able to sell easily because there was a great demand for spicy products. The traders arrived and we had great access to the market to sell the production," said Reynaldo Guzman Juarez, a producer of jalapeños in the Caobas ejido.
No losses
He also stated that there had been no losses due to the weather conditions during the end of this year because, even though the drought had had an impact during the previous cycle and producers feared there would be heavy losses in October this year, the situation was different.
He said the price of jalapeño in the area ranged between four and six pesos, depending on the quality and size with which it is delivered to the customer. The most important customer, in this case, is the La Costeña company and the buyers have contracts with said company to supply it with jalapeños.
He acknowledged that planting jalapeños was quite complicated because producers didn't have support from the Chili Product System so producers had to carry it out with their own resources, despite the increase in input prices. As a result, he said, there are few chili producers nowadays in Quintana Roo.
"The reality is we do not know anything about the organization of the Chili Product System and we only hear about it through the media. The truth is we don't even know the fellow who supposedly represents us and we receive no benefits from them. Perhaps they are making some money for themselves, but there is no support for us," he said.
Source: sipse.com
