Mexico: Hard sale for melon
The producer explained that, presently, he has harvested 4 hectares of melon (Crozier variety) in his farm "Guayacanes", where the cost is above 200,000 pesos and they face plagues problems that they fight with chemical products that, when its costs raise his only support are the distribution channels.
"We have no more places where to sell our product, apart from the local market, where buyers pay 6 or 4 pesos per piece, depending on the size, when it's ideal that the fruit is sold by kilos, so we can pay the costs and investors can have a profit margin that, at least, boosts them to harvest again", says the producer.
On his side, Abelardo Cadena León, other of the persons involved in this kind of cultivation, says that it is not easy to fight persts and diseases attacking melons. Adding up to the lack of sale channel, losses can be quite big, as if it rains, a big part of the product is lost.
Another factor is that when the first harvest is done, the ones after are faster as the plant has more nutrients and the fruit is faster on growth. If they don't have anyone to sell it to, there's the risk of loosing a cut as the fruit matures faster and it will only be good to feed the animals.
The same way, they comment that they can't sell to big distributors such as Wal-Mart, Chedaui or others, as businessmen propose contracts for the fruit to be delivered over six months, when this kind of fruit is seasonal and can't be produced when rain comes as fruit will root in the field with so much water.
Finally the ones planting melon comment that, presently, they are the ones planting the most in the municipality, but there's no support from the Federal Government or any kind of institution to allow them to have bigger and better results, when they already generate more than 1,500 jobs in the activity.
Source: Rumbonuevo