Much is said about the incredible export potential of the Peruvian pineapples, especially of the Golden variety. However, future exports can be seriously compromised by crop management issues that don't allow producers to comply with the characteristics demanded by international products. Or being unable to offer a significant volume of this product with a high uniform quality.
According to William Daga, a specialist in fruit trees of the General Agricultural Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, the pineapple producers are not performing a good pre-harvest and postharvest, which affects the quality of the fruit. "Another aspect is size uniformity, as the fruit for export must all have the same sizes, i.e. there should be a defined caliber, not just any caliber. We have to work on that and standardize the production. There are producers that invest money and obtain good quality of fruit, and there are others that do not make an investment and don't achieve such good quality. The problem is that, when the pineapples are exported, they get mixed and their overall quality decreases," he said.
The official spoke about Brazil, Costa Rica, and especially about Colombia, which has seen big business in the export of pineapples; especially after overcoming a fruit-fly quarantine and initiating a very strong sales process. So much so that, in terms of fruits, Colombians consider the pineapple is the second product with the greatest export potential, after the avocado.
Productive landscape
Peru has approximately 10 thousand hectares of Creole, Hawaiian, and Golden pineapple varieties. The latter have the best commercial prospects. William Daga said that virtually all the production is allocated to domestic consumption and the juice industry, but that there is a potential to sell abroad, as the country has the land and seeds, which they have to carefully select, to produce quality pineapples.
"We must select the type of seed because there is a clone brought from Ecuador that produces 30 to 35 tons per hectare, and a clone brought from Costa Rica that produces 60 to 80 tons. That's why producers have to be careful when selecting. In addition, the prices are totally different according to the seed," he said.
He also said that, to export, the pineapple sector urgently needed a financial base that would allow it to grow in area, which would help increase the productive volume, and have access to technical advice so that the fruit grows uniformly.
"It can't be very small or very big. It can't have flies, boron deficiency, or brown spots inside ... that's terrible. If we export fruits like this, we might sell a first load, but nobody would be interested in a second shipment because of the fruit's irregular quality," he concluded.
Source: agraria.pe