With the papaya harvest just about to start in Costa Rica, the Costa Rican company Visasa has confirmed that this year they decided to venture with the cultivation of 72 hectares of this fruit. Papaya is a fruit that, over the years, is becoming more and more popular worldwide because of its good taste and versatility, as well as its nutritional properties. Based on the extensive experience they have with the marketing of pineapples, the fruit's choice was almost automatic.
"Although this project kicked off in 2015 and we started having availability in May 2016 with some pilot shipments, it is from this year that we will start to have representative volumes. The harvest will kick off this week and within a month we plan to harvest 2 weekly containers, which in 10 months will become 10 containers per week," affirmed Erick Villalobos, of Vivasa.
With the conviction that this is a product that has the potential for a rising consumption and high productivity, the hybrid variety Pococí, or Papaya Perfecta, was chosen for these crops. "This variety is mainly characterised by its sweet taste, soft pulp and reddish colour. It is a variety that is not grown in other countries, and if we take into account that our competition is Guatemala, Mexico and Brazil, it has been the most appropriate choice," stressed the spokesperson.
Up to now, the export of papayas from Costa Rica has been a difficult issue to handle for exporters, but with this project, Vivasa decided to put an end to these prejudices. "Costa Rican producers have been very cautious, so it has taken a long time before there was an exporter of full containers on a constant basis. The main reason is that there were mainly small producers, so exporters had to gather several producers in order to fill a container," confirmed Villalobos.
"The challenge is for importers to see that Costa Rica is able to supply this product constantly and professionally. We have a strong team when it comes to quality, post-harvest and protection of the plantations, so we have accepted this challenge to start making ourselves known in the European market," he concluded.
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Erick Villalobos
Visasa