North America Edition
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Michoacan's strawberry producing sector announced its intention to develop its own strawberry variety, given the high volume of royalties, which amount to more than 750 million pesos per season, that they must pay to the United States each year to cultivate patented varieties.
The general director of the Institute of Science, Technology and Innovation, José Luis Montañez Espinosa, told representatives of the Strawberry Product System gathered at the Agricultural Food Innovation and Development Center of Michoacan that the government's commitment to research and development its own strawberry variety included a 3 to 5 years investment and 15 million pesos in resources, which will come from the Mixed FOMIX Fund of the State Government with the National Council of Science and Technology, CONACYT.
The project was presented by Alfonso Luna Cruz, a representative of the entity that will carry out the varietal development project once it is authorized by CONACYT, CIDAM.
According to the specialist, the variety sought should allow reducing the use of agrochemicals and have a high yield per hectare. It should also have a longer shelf life, size, firmness, color, sugar level, and precocity.
According to CIDAM, the research won't start from zero but will be based on species released from patents, CINESTAV's germplasm bank, the database of all the varieties that are on the market, as well as the most used varieties in Mexico and particularly in Michoacan
Source: quadratin.com.mx
