The Cuasa company, in Honduras, cultivates, exports and distributes okra to the American and European markets. Cuasa cultivates American and Indian okra. "The Indian okra is darker, while the American okra has a light green color. The Indian okra is longer. In addition, the American okra has six calibres while the Indian okra only has five," said Abril.
The company has nearly 480 hectares devoted to okra crops. 70% of their production consists of the American variety, and 30% of the Indian variety. Most are exported to the United States and Canada. "We ship 65% of our production to North America and the rest to Europe," added Flores.
It is a booming product. The exporter said there had been a 300% increase in the number of cases exported in the last two seasons. The season almost lasts the entire year, as it begins in November and ends in October, so there's only one month when they are out of the market. "It depends on the weather; if it rains a lot, we have to stop, but we didn't have much rain last year."
Cuasa is a family company that has been cultivating okra for nearly six years. The company started by only growing American okra, but two seasons ago it started to grow a new variety. The company has plans to diversify: their next project is to start growing peppers. "We will start this new project around October, focusing in the United States and Europe. We'll grow habanero peppers for Europe and sweet peppers for the US," he said. "We are making a great investment because we need to acquire greenhouses. Pepper is treated differently than okra, so we have to make investments."
"Cuasa always grows excellent quality okra, and we always strive to meet our customers' needs. We always do our best to be better every season," concluded Flores.
