"In general, we've noticed that the fruit's quality is much better than last year," said Alberto Irazola, president of the Peruvian Association of Mango Producers and Exporters (Apem).
He reported that the guild estimated that this season's production would reach 140,000 metric tons, 7% more than in the previous season. 110,000 MT will be processed as fresh mango and 30,000 will be used for canning.
The improvement in quality and the slight increase in volume would be associated with the proper and orderly flowering of 2,900 hectares that the guild evaluated to develop projections for this campaign.
In Piura, which produces 75% of the national volume, plants bloomed at similar times. "The differences in times are not as big as in other years. They're a bit closer," he said.
In Lambayeque, where 15% of the fruit is produced, he said, plants bloomed well, thanks to good temperatures.
Despite the projected quality of the fruit, Irazola asked producers to act in a timely manner against maggots, a plague that attacked plantations last season and caused economic losses to the industry. He reported that the maggots had already been detected in this campaign in plantations of the Edward variety. "It 's time to use biological controls to prevent this attack," he said. "It's a good time to make an intensive release in the valleys," he said.
At the same time, he announced that the campaign had begun earlier than expected, since the first container of mango had been exported in week 45. Apem projected that the campaign would start in weeks 47 and 48, according to what the union had stated in early October. He also said they expect the harvest to peak in the first week of 2014.
Source: Agraria.pe