Matthieu Landon, LatBio:

"We're very excited about the project that we started with organic mango for the European market"

The mango campaign has already begun in Ecuador, in a year in which the increase in the average temperature associated with the El Niño weather phenomenon has impacted fruit production in the countries of the Pacific region. "At the end of June, the night temperature in Ecuador usually stands at 19 degrees. This year, the temperature has not dropped from 22-23 degrees Celsius, so the plants haven't received the cold they need to start flowering and curdling the fruit. The Tommy variety has been the least affected. According to my estimates, this variety will experience a nearly 30% decrease in harvest. Meanwhile, up to 80% of the Kent mango has been lost," stated Matthieu Landon, of LatBio.

"Unfortunately, this year we'll have very little production. However, we at LatBio are very excited about the project that we started with organic mango. We are advising the producer through one of our group companies (YanaPacha). The producer has made a great effort to certify his production as organic to join our project and be able to market his mango with LatBio."

"LatBio is not only an exporter. We have an ecosystem that works to promote organic agriculture and to help farmers, giving them advice so that they can make the right decisions, and giving them visibility and the commercial tools to market their fresh and processed fruit to their customers with the optimal quality for export."

The organic-certified mango farms in Ecuador are located in the provinces of El Oro and Los Ríos. "We'll start with the first organic Ataulfo mangoes in week 40, which we will have available until December. We'll incorporate the Tommy Atkins in week 42, and finally the organic Kent from week 50 to 52. We'll market them in Europe, mainly in Germany and Switzerland."

"We'll start marketing our fruit to China very soon"
The weather conditions that have significantly impacted the mango campaign have been positive for another of the tropical fruits par excellence, the banana, which LatBio produces under organic, regenerative, and biodynamic agriculture. "When compared to the result obtained by conventional banana and organic banana producers, in terms of productivity and quality, we can't complain. We have done a great job this year despite the historical rainy season we had in Ecuador. In some regions -in fact- there was 5 times more rainfall than the peak rains in the last 30 years. Thus, guaranteeing an optimal quality at the destination was quite complex, but we at LatBio have achieved it."

"Since the minimum temperatures are high, we had more production than usual in summer. This allows us to offer it to potential customers and open new markets. It's worth noting that not all our customers are in Europe and that we'll start marketing our fruit to China very soon."

"At this time, the market is very positive: there's more demand than supply of Ecuadorian bananas; especially in conventional markets with very high prices for producers. Our Cataleia farm is our main differential in terms of banana certification as it is the only farm in the country with Demeter certification."