Fernando Antonio Nava Aguilar, director of the Vegetables and Ornamentals department of the Ministry of Rural Development (Seder) in Jalisco, said Jalisco exported more than 90 percent of the berries the state produces. He also stated that Jalisco ranked first in the production of berries (raspberry, blackberry, blueberry and strawberry), crops that are almost exclusively for export, via the different techniques of protected agriculture.
He also said Jalisco had about four thousand hectares devoted to berries under protected agriculture. "It depends on the crop, some are cultivated in macro-tunnels, others in micro-tunnels, or greenhouses, as the level of technology varies," said the director of Seder. He said that Jalisco is a leader in blueberry production, as it produces 55 percent of the blueberry nationwide. "According to data from 2013, Jalisco cultivated 536 hectares and had a production of 3,984 tons worth 74 million pesos," he said.
Nava Aguilar explained that 90 percent of the blueberry production was exported to USA, Canada and Japan, and that they were starting to send it to the Asian market, specifically to China and Korea. He also added that they were betting on the Asian market for the next few years, after the export protocol for berries to those countries is approved. Thus, the companies in Jalisco are being trained so they can increase their sales to the Asian market.
He stressed that the municipalities with strong productions of blueberry were Zapoltitic, Tuxpan, Sayula, Zapotlán el Grande, Pihuamo, Concepción de Buenos Aires, Tala, Autlán, Gómez Farías and Mazamitla. Then he said that, in 2013, Jalisco had cultivated 859 hectares of raspberry which had yielded 12,700 tons worth $400 million pesos, and that they had exported 93 percent of their production. The major raspberry producing municipalities are Jocotepec, Sayula, Zapoltitic and Tuxpan.
Last year, the entity had 450 hectares devoted to strawberry but, according to the data of 2013, there were only 304 hectares that produced 8,300 tons, which had a production value of $144 million pesos, 96 percent of which was for export; the major municipalities were Tapalpa, Jocotepec, Atotonilco, Tototlán and Pets. Regarding blackberry, he said that the state had 320 hectares in 2013 that produced 3,880 tons worth $32 million pesos, and that the main municipalities were Tuxpan, Zapoltitic and Jocotepec.
Source: Notimex