The Directorate for Rural Development from Lerdo will help producers achieve contract farming of asparagus crops in the municipality. This kind of production, which the municipality is increasingly promoting, allows producers to have a secure income on their agricultural production.
The head of the Directorate for Rural Development from Lerdo, Alvaro Burciaga Flores, stated they would cultivate 30 hectares of asparagus with the support from the Zulken company, which will purchase and finance the product for the first eighteen months.
The official said city council of Lerdo worked intensively to establish an agreement with the company so that they would support producers through contract farming and fund the crops throughout the first year and a half, while the plants grow.
Months ago, the Directorate of Rural Development met with agricultural producers from various communities in Lerdo to start planning the production of asparagus.
Producer will invest 130,000 pesos per hectare planted. The Zulken company will be a collateral in the credit to cover the costs of planting and, after covering this cost, producers will make 170,000 pesos per hectare.
Asparagus crops start yielding products when they are eighteen months old, so producers have to be maintained until the plants start to produce. After that, the plants continue producing for the next 10 years.
Producers only need to establish their crops and have a guarantee. The company will endorse them and will receive a percentage, that was previously agreed to with the producers, of the profits of these crops.
The municipal agency said that the production and marketing of asparagus would generate a huge economic impact and create jobs in the packaging sector. This is very necessary in the field of Lerdo.
Source: elsiglodetorreon.com.mx