The cultivation of asparagus in Michoacan has had an impressive growth, going from nearly 50 hectares in 2013, which yielded 129 tons of asparagus, to the current more than 175 hectares that yield nearly 1,100 tons, i.e. an 800% increase.
This was disclosed by the head of the Ministry of Rural Development and Agricultural Food (Sedrua), Francisco Huergo Maurin, who also said that the production of asparagus becomes uniform a year and a half after being sown.
He said that, in just three years, this crop had become one of the most successful crops in the entity and one of the most demanded products by the national and international markets. Additionally, he reiterated that the production between 2013 and 2016 had amounted to nearly 1,100 tons, which positioned them as the sixth largest producer of asparagus nationwide.
Asparagus is an edible, elongated, green or white bud or tender shoot, with a straight cylindrical stem. It has needle-shaped leaves grouped in bundles and a creeping root from which the tender shoots grow.
Huergo Maurin said that the pioneer municipalities were: Angamacutiro, Jose Sixto Verduzco, Morelos, and Puruándiro, which started cultivating asparagus in 2013. Nowadays there are asparagus crops in other municipalities, such as Penjamillo, Salvador Escalante, Uruapan, and Chucandiro, among others.
Jose Sixto Verduzco is the municipality that produces the most asparagus, with 95 hectares that yield 336 tons, followed by Salvador Escalante with 29 hectares and 116 tons.
According to Huergo Maurin, Mexico is the third largest producer of asparagus in the world, a ranking that is led by China.
He also said that the asparagus producing states were Sonora, Guanajuato, Baja California Sur, Baja California, Queretaro, Michoacan, Coahuila, and Nuevo Leon.
