This year, Bengala Agricola, a subsidiary of Riopaila-Castilla, expects to exports 700 containers of pineapple to Chile, the Netherlands, the United States, Italy, and France, said Gustavo Barona, the manager of Riopaila Agricola SA.
"We started our export program at the end of 2015. So far this year we have exported 140 containers, which translates into more than 15 million dollars in income for the company," the executive said.
Most shipments are made by sea, and only the shipments to France and Italy are made by air. The company will export its largest export volume in the second half of this year.
Each container carries 20 tons of fresh pineapples of the MD2 variety, which is also known as Honey Gold, that are packed in 1,600 twelve-kilo boxes.
The processing plant of Bengala Agricola, where the fresh fruit is sorted, packed and stored in cold, is located in the municipality of Pradera (Valle del Cauca).
Currently, the company gets its supply of pineapple from 480 hectares that they own, and this year the company started buying pineapples from local suppliers, who have 50 hectares more.
In 2017 the company projects to get fruit from 500 hectares through contract farming.
The development of a hectare, however, costs about 50 million pesos and it can produce 110 to 120 tons of fruit; "A good sprouting might allow producers to achieve a second crop, but with a reduction of up to 30 percent," said Gustavo Barona.
Valle del Cauca is the second largest producer of pineapple with an estimated 95,000 hectares, i.e. 8.5% of the area devoted to this fruit in the country, according to the III National Agricultural Census.
The department of Valle del Cauca accounted for 220,000 tons of the 1.6 million tons of fresh fruit that was harvested in 2013.
Source: portafolio.co