Articles
INTERNATIONAL MARKET OF FRESH AND PROCESSED GUAVA: CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES FOR THE MEXICAN CASE
Article number
959_1
Pages
15 – 21
Language
English
Abstract
Guava is one of the most important fruit crops in Mexico.
During the last decade average cultivated area has been about 22.8 thousands hectares with an annual production of 291 thousands tons.
National mean of guava fruit yield is 13.7 t ha,sup-1, however, it may fluctuate from 2 to 20 t ha-1, depending on the region and between levels of technology used.
Approximately 85% of the total production volume is for fresh consumption, while the rest is used for processing at different scales.
Most of the commercialization of fresh guava is for the national market and is mainly concentrated in five or six Mexican cities.
Nevertheless, those cities represent a potential market of more than 40 millions people.
Although guava is produced in more than 20 states of the country, planted area in the states of Michoacan, Aguascalientes and Zacatecas represent an 89% of the total cultivated area.
The guava fruit type mainly produced in these regions is called Media China, which has a high preference by the consumer because of its nice flavor and pleasant aroma.
Recently, guava crop has received more attention by the different stakeholders in the value chain, which allowed reaching important objectives such as the exportation of 15 thousands tons of fresh guava to the United States during the last four years.
This was possible because of the campaigns against fruit fly, as well as the approved irradiation treatment.
Another important achievement includes the registration and release of the first five Mexican guava cultivars.
Even then, some challenges that guava producers in Mexico have to face in the near future are: development and use of more improved cultivars having comparative advantages (fruit size and form, lower seed number, pulp color, ascorbic acid content, total soluble solids, greater firmness, etc.); adoption of better agronomic practices (pruning, nutrition, irrigation, etc.); more environmentally and healthy control of pests; regulation of cropping to ensure more stable production through the whole year and increase fruit quality and uniformity, among others.
Besides these technical factors, it is also needed: to enhance organization of guava producers; increase infrastructure (packing and cold storage facilities, etc.); to have more access to technical assistance and better profits for guavas.
As long as some of these elements start to be incorporated to the guava production systems, it could be possible to have better perspectives for the future of the Mexican guava.
During the last decade average cultivated area has been about 22.8 thousands hectares with an annual production of 291 thousands tons.
National mean of guava fruit yield is 13.7 t ha,sup-1, however, it may fluctuate from 2 to 20 t ha-1, depending on the region and between levels of technology used.
Approximately 85% of the total production volume is for fresh consumption, while the rest is used for processing at different scales.
Most of the commercialization of fresh guava is for the national market and is mainly concentrated in five or six Mexican cities.
Nevertheless, those cities represent a potential market of more than 40 millions people.
Although guava is produced in more than 20 states of the country, planted area in the states of Michoacan, Aguascalientes and Zacatecas represent an 89% of the total cultivated area.
The guava fruit type mainly produced in these regions is called Media China, which has a high preference by the consumer because of its nice flavor and pleasant aroma.
Recently, guava crop has received more attention by the different stakeholders in the value chain, which allowed reaching important objectives such as the exportation of 15 thousands tons of fresh guava to the United States during the last four years.
This was possible because of the campaigns against fruit fly, as well as the approved irradiation treatment.
Another important achievement includes the registration and release of the first five Mexican guava cultivars.
Even then, some challenges that guava producers in Mexico have to face in the near future are: development and use of more improved cultivars having comparative advantages (fruit size and form, lower seed number, pulp color, ascorbic acid content, total soluble solids, greater firmness, etc.); adoption of better agronomic practices (pruning, nutrition, irrigation, etc.); more environmentally and healthy control of pests; regulation of cropping to ensure more stable production through the whole year and increase fruit quality and uniformity, among others.
Besides these technical factors, it is also needed: to enhance organization of guava producers; increase infrastructure (packing and cold storage facilities, etc.); to have more access to technical assistance and better profits for guavas.
As long as some of these elements start to be incorporated to the guava production systems, it could be possible to have better perspectives for the future of the Mexican guava.
Authors
J.S. Padilla-Ramirez , E. González-Gaona, J. Ambriz-Aguilar
Keywords
annual production, producing regions, commercialization, exportation
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