Silverio Lopez Magallanes, head of the Secretariat for the Countryside (Secampo), highlighted the boom in pumpkin production that the state has had in the last year. According to him, this was a crop that did not exist in Zacatecas seven years ago, and in the past six years we've increased the area to 8,000, 9,000 and 10,000 hectares of crops in the municipality of Sombrerete.
He said this crop was part of the conversion of crops which seeks to reduce the surface of beans in the state so that, in turn, prices increase and producers are not affected.
He said that these types of producers had been given priority attention since last year so that, apart from cultivating oats, barley, wheat, and sunflower seeds, they could grow pumpkin to sell seeds and pulp.
Lopez Magallanes said that one of the benefits of the converting bean crops to pumpkin crops was that they would help decrease the pressure of one of the biggest bean productions in the country.
"Pumpkin production has become very important, as there is now a considerable surface devoted to this crop: 8,000 to 11,000 hectares of a crop that did not exist before," he reiterated.
He emphasized that the policy aimed to benefit the Zacateca's agricultural sector by decreasing the production of beans so that prices increase, and by diversifying products.
Agreed production
Lopez Magallanes said that Zacatecas "has taken a very important step for the sake of all the products' marketing."
He added that producers of apple, guava, and peach "already have the opportunity to agree on what they will produce, which represents a very significant advance in this field."
Source: ntrzacatecas.com