Strawberry exporters should also grow other complementary fruit to have a better income because, according to Carlos Alberto Rodríguez Martín del Campo, director of Training and Enterprise Acceleration from the Foreign Trade Development Coordinator (COFOCE), strawberry exports have fallen by nearly 16 percent so far this year when compared to 2012.
The executive reported that strawberry exports between January and May amounted to $6,656,000 dollars when, in the same period last year, exports reached 8 million dollars.
This, he said, despite the fact that the food industry has grown at double-digit rates based on an annual growth of 10 percent and, by the month of May, it had had an overall growth of 19.5 percent.
Guanajuato, he said, ranks in third place in strawberry production, below Michoacan and Baja California, which got a larger market for the export of strawberries in the 80's and 90's, so the State must restructure its production systems to complement the products exported.
Fruit set
Alberto Rodríguez noted that they are currently working with packages of fruit, i.e., they don't only offer strawberries in the negotiations, but also add fruits such as raspberry, BlackBerry, Blueberry. It's a strategy that is being adopted by large export consortium, which is why they are no longer looking for producers that only produce strawberry, but are interested in those that offer the entire fruit set.
That is why they are recommending large agricultural producers to grow other products and strengthen the health and safety measures. As COFOCE's director stated, "the strawberry isn't a risky product but it is in direct contact with the ground, and these are food products that aren't processed after they are grown, that is to say they go straight from the fields to the table where they will be consumed."
