A team of researchers from the Faculty of Agronomy of the Catholic University of Chile submitted a project, via the Innovation Fund for Competitiveness, which aims to increase the onion production's sustainability and competitiveness in the region of O'Higgins.
Onions are one of the main vegetables grown in the country with about 6,000 hectares planted per year, 41.5% of which is produced in the O'Higgins Region, the main producing region of the guarda and early onion varieties in the country.
"We want to develop the necessary knowledge so that farmers can reduce the production costs per kilo of onions. To accomplish this, we'll promote the use of improved varieties, pest control monitoring, establishments with direct seeding, weed and diseases control plans, as well as training workshops and field days," said project Coordinator, Samuel Contreras.
The first stage of this initiative is to diagnose the problems or technology gaps identified in the product's production and quality processes. This information will help to research team to significantly improve the onion production efficiency, decreasing costs and increasing performance through practices that respect the environment, people's safety, product quality and storage.
Then, the group expects to enhance the product's visual, organoleptic and safety quality by making modifications to pre-harvest and postharvest to ensure a better marketing differentiation of the product and be allowed to finally disclose the project results to the onion growers in the region.
Source: eltipografo.cl