Organic pitahaya is a product that is increasingly demanded in international markets, and even more if it has the German BCS certification, which is why an Ecuadorian company decided to invest in this much appreciated product a few years ago, using family greenhouses that were not being used to grow pitahayas.
Now, in addition to having this important certification, the company exports organic and conventional pitahaya to the United States, organic pitahaya to Hong Kong and Malaysia, and plans to begin exporting organic pitahaya to the European markets.
There is no doubt that the CBS Germany certification is a competitive advantage for the Té del Ecuador company, a company that, as its name suggests, had always been dedicated to the cultivation and marketing of tea until Fernando Castillo decided to diversify its market towards organic pitahaya.
According to Castillo, they ventured into this market because "several markets are looking for organic pitahaya and at present there is no offer. Recently, and due to market demand, especially from the United States, we obtained organic certification."
"The company's main business is producing tea. It exports it to the United States, Costa Rica, Colombia, Uruguay, Malaysia, and Russia. We specialize in the production of English black tea and at present we are the only tea producing company in Ecuador with 432 hectares of planting."
Castillo said that "they had their first encounter with the pitahaya after an ex-manager of the company, Peter Wilson, was introduced to the plant and fruits by an indigenous person over 20 years ago. At that time, Peter Wilson thought the farmers could grow it and sell it and gave the seeds of this plant to them so that they had another income alternative and did not depend so much on the tea company."
After the death of Castillo's father, who had greenhouses for the planting of bromeliads, Castillo decided to use his hobby for organic products to plant pitahayas in greenhouses, something that had never been done and that yielded very good fruits. "Having the plants in greenhouses made it easier to control pests, diseases, and especially the rain, so I saw an opportunity to grow the fruit in organic conditions," Castillo stated.
Currently, Te del Ecuador is the only company in its country to be certified by BCS Germany, something that opens up the possibility of new markets and achieving more stable prices than those obtained by the conventional pitahaya.
Fernando Castillo noted that they were in the process of building more greenhouses to increase their production and that they expected to produce 35,000 kg of fruit per year in the next 3 years. In addition, he said, they are also going to start an organic soursop crop for export.
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Fernando Castillo
Té del Ecuador