The president of the fruit trade union, Jorge Valenzuela, visited the Ministry of Agriculture to move forward a proposal by Fedefruta, which is related to a law that facilitates financing to convert obsolete gardens and modernize their processes. "There is a dynamic of modernization of the world's fruit industry, and we run the risk of being left out," he said.
"We want the funding for the renewal of plantations to be a State policy, through a law that rescues the practical and promotional spirit of a sector, such as forestry, from the DL701, and that defines parameters to mandate the design of credits that have rates and payment terms that take into account the productive processes of the field," he stated.
Chile's fruit sector requires more than 600 million dollars a year to modernize its obsolete orchards with species and varieties that are attractive to the international markets, and with technological improvements that make the processes efficient for the producer.
However, the low margins of profitability of the main crops have not allowed the sector to renew itself while the competition in other countries adopts the latest technologies. As a result, the Federation of Fruit Producers of Chile (Fedefruta) has proposed to the government designing a Law to Promote Fruit Reconversion, which facilitates the financing for this task.
That was one of the topics that the board of Fedefruta, led by President Jorge Valenzuela Trebilcock, discussed with the Minister of Agriculture, Antonio Walker, at a meeting held at the Ministry of Agriculture.
Jorge Valenzuela
"We want the funding for the renewal of plantations to be a State policy, through a law that rescues the practical and promotional spirit of a sector, such as forestry, from the DL701, and that defines parameters to mandate the design of credits that have rates and payment terms that take into account the productive processes of the field," he stated.
Valenzuela recalled the urgency of this issue and stated that this kind of law would be very beneficial for different producers, such as the producers of beets who were affected by the closure of Iansa and that need to start growing other crops, or for farmers in southern Chile who are planning to become fruit growers, or the grape producer from the north who are in crisis due to the returns of the Flame variety, or the apple producers from the south-central zone who have seen a decrease in their profits due to a lack of renewal.
Fedefruta also stated that they want the conversion to involve more than the varietal or species replacement. "The technology in the fruit orchards goes hand in hand with the species or variety that wants to be replanted, to the machinery that will be used for harvest," Valenzuela stated. "Our proposal includes the technological aspect of the sector, technology is included in last line of the properties and processes. We need to be more efficient by modernizing the orchards, so that they are more compact, have higher densities, can be walkable and have technology."