In Peru, companies such as Agrícola Cerro Prieto are expanding their avocado varietal portfolio to extend the campaign's commercial window. The export volume skyrockets from the first half of May to the end of July, so any fruit that is exported outside that period, especially in the first months of the year, will have a differential price.
In recent years, Agrícola Cerro Prieto has been evaluating in its Chiclayo fields the Maluma variety, of which it has 60 hectares, and the Carmen and Gem varieties, in 8 hectares each.
According to the general manager of the firm, Alfredo Lira, these varieties have commercial potential and they have been adjusting their agronomic management to achieve the appropriate yields that make them viable as a business.
He also said the company had been working for four years with the Maluma variety, which started having a 25-30% lower productivity than the Hass avocado, which he believes will improve campaign after campaign. “The important thing is that the Maluma variety will come out in late March or early April, a window in which it will definitely achieve a differential price.”
The Gem is a later variety that can come out in August, he stated. Unfortunately, they still haven't managed to make the Carmen variety an early variety, as was projected, and it has also shown a lot of alternation.
Prohass is working so that these varieties are subjected to the same sanitary conditions to enter the markets as the Hass avocado so they don't have to undergo a quarantine treatment upon arriving at their destination as would be required in the US market and other Asian markets. For now, they have agreed with the National Agricultural Health Service (SENASA) to develop fieldwork that proves that they are not hosts of the fruit fly.
Source: redagricola.com