For the first time in the history of the state of Puebla, the producers from Santiago Coatepec, in the municipality of Caltepec, managed to sell fresh irradiated pitahaya to the US market.
After two years of intensive work in the orchards and performing commercial lobbies in the US, they managed to send the first two shipments of pitahaya, also known as dragon fruit.
So far, they have managed to export 11 tons and 890.6 kilos, which corresponds to the first cut of the 2016 harvest.
Santiago Coatepec is a highly marginalized community, located in the Tehuacan Valley. The cultivation of dragon fruit is a predominant activity in this community, which is dedicated to agriculture and livestock.
For two years, producers from the community, led by the Assistant President Nestor Correa Lezama, have been working to export this fruit and increase their profits to improve their quality of life.
The campaign against the fruit fly, an essential requirement to export to the United States, was conducted with the support of Francisco Javier Trujillo Arriaga, the Managing Director of Plant Health National Health Service, Food Safety and Quality (SENASA).
12 hectares were certified in the campaign's first stage, which was supervised by an authorized professional from Senasica. This campaign was completely funded by the producers of Santiago Coatepec.
"We achieved this exports through production and trade alliances, and the support of Senasica Mexico, which trusted us when nobody else did," said Nestor Lezama Correa, the assistant president of Santiago Coatepec.
"Our partners -RYC, logistics and markets- were a great support to export fresh irradiated dragon fruit to the US market," he added.
Source: intoleranciadiario.com