Yucatan will have a plant with the necessary technology to process habanero peppers to obtain the capsaicin molecule, which will be used by the pharmaceutical industry and will give an added value to the production of this vegetable.
The head of the Ministry of Economic Development (Sefoe), Ernesto Herrera Novelo, visited the orchards that grow habanero peppers with Francisco Irazoqui Galaviz and Jose Maria Sabin Sabin, the men who are in heading the project of the Agricultura Abierta y Protegida de la Peninsula company (Open and Protected Agriculture of the Peninsula company).
"We have the technology to obtain the molecule, which can have different uses. Our goal, however, is the pharmaceutical industry. Among other applications, it serves to heal wood, prevent pests, protect fiber optic cables, it can be used in self-defense, to ease pain, and reduce inflammation," stated Irazoqui Galaviz.
In an interview, the entrepreneur said they had worked for five years in a system that is technically and financially profitable to make a hybrid between a greenhouse and shade mesh, with hydroponic production equipment, in Hoctun.
"We started working on how to industrialize habanero peppers, but first we invested in the construction of high-tech greenhouses. There was no technology, so we had to create it. There was little research and we needed the production to be good, so we could harvest all year round and have a high level of capsaicin," he said.
Currently, the company produces an estimated 80 tons of habanero peppers per hectare in 11.5 hectares in the municipality of Hoctun, which are marketed fresh in Europe, the United States, and in the national market.
Irazoqui Galaviz expects the processing plant to be operational by the end of next year. The construction is 50% advanced, while the installation of machinery and equipment, 40 percent.
"We'll be working with 100 hectares when we start to operate, but we'll need an installed capacity of one thousand hectares to produce 60 to 80 thousand tons per year, which we'll achieve by planting in Yucatan, Sinaloa, and San Luis Potosi," he said.
Regarding the commercialization of the molecule, he said that they would export everything, because the national market had shown no interest for it. "We have commercial understandings through the attaches of the Spanish, German, and US embassies in Mexico."
The company currently has 150 permanent employees and it expects to increase its workforce to 1,500 employees when the plant begins operating.
Source: NTX