AGROCALIDAD, the agency in charge of Agricultural Health Service, certified the first shipment of 240 kg of organic pitahaya to the United States. The inspected cargo departed from Ecuador to Los Angeles at night, and it encourages new export alternatives to benefit the organic production that takes place in Ecuador.
The inspection process was carried out last Thursday by technicians of the agency in the Collection Center of the Ecuatoriana del Té CA Company (CETCA) located in the Palora canton, province of Morona Santiago. The fruit of this shipment corresponds to a batch of 5.000 m² pitahaya production under greenhouse, which is certified as a free of fruit fly site.
The fruit complied with all the guidelines established in the Operational Work Plan (PTO) from harvest to packaging. It has a mesh against insects for transport to the United States and went through the verification of the entire post-harvest process carried out in an approved collection center. This PTO was signed between AGROCALIDAD and the Inspection Service of Animal and Plant Health APHIS, its counterpart in the United States.
The pitahaya is one of the most purchased products in the United States and the Ecuadorian variety is highly sought after in various segments of this international market, which translates into new business opportunities for the national economy.
The opening of new markets for Ecuadorian fruit products, such as organic pitahaya to the United States, will lead to an increase in business for the producers dedicated to this crop, which includes the achievement of greater and new incomes to the country's farmers dedicated to clean production, i.e. productions that don't use pesticides during the crop cycle.
More information: www.agrocalidad.gob.ec