Because of its high quality, Jalisco's southern pomegranate made its way into the US market for the second consecutive year with the export of 120 tons of the wonderful variety, this season.
"This is the production that we hope to send this year, especially during the harvesting season that began in August and concludes at the end of October," said Gerardo Álvarez González, president of Jalisco's Pomegranate Product-System State Committee.
Last year, the first red pomegranate was exported to the neighboring country, with the support of an intermediary.
He indicated that without a broker a kilo of pomegranates could be sold at $2.50, but instead was traded at $ 1.50 during the previous season.
"It's a pretty attractive price for us" because in Guadalajara's Wholesale Market, for example, a kilo is bought at 7 pesos, said the Jalisco producer.
He said that the State Committee plans to send at least 60 percent of production this year, and the remaining 40 percent is offered in several markets in the country, especially in Jalisco, where this fruit is processed and marketed as juice, jam and in bottled water.
Álvarez González said that the producers and businessmen of southern Jalisco also plan to put on sale a pomegranate and white tequila liquor, which is already being tested.
He said that 13 hectares of an orchard located in Ciudad Guzmán, municipality of Zapotitlán el Grande, south of Jalisco, are allocated for the cultivation of wonderful pomegranate, where they employ about 40 people in harvesting, cutting and other processes during those three months.
When questioned about possible drawbacks of the new US government's policies, the producer responded that these have not represented a problem to market the fruit, and stressed that the red pomegranate sent maintains all standards of phytosanitary control to avoid problems in this regard.
He shared that Jalisco's Pomegranate Product-System State Committee is optimistic to concretize its plans of expansion to the markets of Canada and Asia, "although in the latter region we see it a little more distant because the Middle East is the strongest in its production, as it is the fruit's origin."
While in Mexico the Pomegranate Festival is promoted as a strategic measure to boost the harvest and the production of the fruit and, with that, to detonate the economic and commercial development in several states.
The initiative has been in some cities of Jalisco and Guanajuato, and organizers hope that next year will reach Hidalgo, where there is a high potential for the cultivation of pomegranate.
Álvarez González added that in the near future there will be a meeting with authorities of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA), with the intention of seeking support from the federal government.
Source: Notimex