Garlic has become one of the main exportable vegetables in Argentina, which has allowed the country to rank as the second largest exporter in the world and one of the main producers.
Despite some dumping issues with Chinese garlic, the levels of work in Argentina's garlic sector have advanced in recent times, as 95% of the garlic exported from our country comes from Mendoza and San Juan.
"Historically, the provinces of Mendoza and San Juan have stood out as the biggest producers of garlic in the country thanks to the favorable climate of the Andean region. During 2014, together they contributed 95 percent - 63,714 tons - of the garlic exported by Argentina," said Carlos Lehmacher, director of Senasa's Regional Cuyo Center.
San Rafael has an interesting amount of area cultivated with this agricultural product. According to the latest data from the Unique Land Registry (RUT), 538 hectares were planted in our department with garlic, a large part of which is destined for export.
San Rafael produces white, Chinese, and red garlic. The area of the three varieties adds up to 278 hectares for the export. 246 of these hectares are in Mlargüe, in the South Oasis, and 204 of these hectares are destined to exports.
"Argentina exports 75% of the 10,000 hectare production in the Uco Valley, San Rafael, the Northwest, San Juan, and Río Negro. Between 2002 and 2014 we were the second biggest exporter of garlic in the world, "said Guillermo San Martín, manager of the Garlic Producers Association of Mendoza.
At present the province of Mendoza has 12,484 hectares of garlic, a large part of which is destined to the export market.
Source: diariosanrafael.com.ar