Pineapple producers in the area of Manuel Avila Camacho have asked governor Carlos Joaquin Gonzalez to intervene to consolidate the infrastructure that would allow them to expand the area being cultivated and ensure its marketing.
Luis Perea Pérez, president of the union of pineapple producer cooperatives said, they only wanted a collection center, which would allow them to export the fruit. "We already have the market, we only need to meet some requirements, including good management."
Perea Perez stated that the Shared Risk Trust (FIRCO) had already approved the project for the construction of a storage facility, and that the only thing missing was the State Government's participation, because they were in a position to chip in what they had to.
He said pineapple crops were profitable and that their fruit had a very high quality, which is why, despite having just started to work in this productive sector, they already had orders from different markets, such as the United States, Canada, several European countries, and China.
Perea Pérez said the Union of Pineapple Producers was made up of 10 cooperatives of small farmers, who had half a hectare to three hectares of pineapple crops. The producers require 30,000 tillers, worth three pesos each, to establish a hectare of crops. This, in turn, limits the building of the collection center, which cost 4 million pesos.
He said pineapple cultivation was still in its infancy, as the 98 members that make up the 10 cooperatives only have 185 hectares planted so far. Pineapple production, which is expected to reach 250 hectares in the future, is a source of jobs for the people of Manuel Avila Camacho, and other nearby locations; it will promote economic growth in the region.