The 22 avocado nurseries operating in Honduras will have a certification process to ensure the quality of Hass avocado plants, improve competitiveness, and meet the domestic demand, which could reduce imports of this fruit.
This process will be implemented under the Regional Program for Research and Innovation of the Agricultural Value Chains (PRIICA), which is being run by the Directorate of Agricultural Science and Technology (DICTA) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (SAG) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), with the aim of achieving quality production by establishing orchards in nurseries that have the quality and safety characteristics that avocado growers require.
The certification will include the provenance of seeds, buds, rootstocks, and seedlings, thus protecting the quality and guaranteeing their variety, plant genetics, and quality.
The process has two phases that are being developed in parallel. The first comprises three workshops with nurserymen, who will formulate the regulations for the certification and subsequently submit them to the National Agricultural Health Service (SENASA) for review and for technical training with DICTA.
The second phase is to achieve impact on the sector so that the public institutions support the initiative and regulation, and so that it can be implemented, so that the nurseries can be certified.
The producers that certify their nurseries will achieve an avocado production that has a good genetic base, which will facilitate their acceptance in the market.
The Government of Honduras supports producers so that they meet certification requirements that will allow them to produce and distribute competitive, high quality avocado for domestic consumption.
Producers and nurserymen from Comayagua, Francisco Morazan, El Paraiso, El Zamorano, Marcala, Siguatepeque, La Esperanza, Ocotepeque and institutions such as the National Agricultural University (UNA) , the Honduran Agricultural Research Foundation (FHIA), and the Regional University Center of the Atlantic Coast (CURLA) began the process with a workshop in Siguatepeque, in mid-October.
Avocado cultivation in Honduras has become a priority for their diet because of its nutritional properties and consumer acceptance. Avocado production in Honduras is developed in an area of 500 hectares by nearly 350 producers.
The PRIICA is a program executed by the IICA, in collaboration with the National Agricultural Research Institutes (INIA), with funding from the European Union, which aims to strengthen food and nutrition security of farmers, through the formation of alliances between the public and private sector, knowledge management, and research and innovation in cassava, potato, tomato and avocado in Central America and Panama.
Source: iica.int