This year's date harvest is expected to start earlier than usual, as the increase in hot hours being recorded in the Valley of Mexicali accelerates the fruit's ripening process. In 2017, the harvest started on August 25. Marco Antonio Chavira, a producer from Ejido Jalapa, said the date was already in the process of changing color, which means it is about to start ripening. Thus, he said, the harvest should start earlier than in other years.
Antonio Chavira has nearly 350 date palms of the Medjool, Khadrawy, Deglet Noor, and Zahidy varieties. In the past harvest, he said, he sold his product for 70 pesos per kilo to a local packer, i.e. 3 to 3.4 dollars per kilo. However, he said, they need to establish a package in which producers are promptly paid. "Producers are paid better in Mexico than in the United States and we have an advantage because we have labor, water, and insurance at lower prices, which is one of the biggest advantages," he added.
Since Jalapa Ejido has a school plot, Chavira proposed renting this space to benefit the school and producers by establishing a packing house there, as there is only one packhouse in the Valley of Mexicali and it takes three to eight months to pay producers.
Source: lavozdelafrontera.com