13,200 kilograms of yellow pitahaya left for the United States

Despite commercial complications for theCOVID-19, part of the first yellow pitahaya harvest of 2021 - that is,13,200 kilograms- It was sent to the United States this Friday from the province of Zamora Chinchipe, theMinistry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG).

According to the MAG, this year's crops for this fruit generate good expectations.

The fruit was produced by the farmers of the Amazonian Pitahayeros and Fruit Association of the El Pangui canton, where since 2017 the first plantations began privately, and then, with the technical support of the MAG, about 20 hectares have been planted.

This fruit has become the fourth export product in the province of Zamora Chinchipe. At the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, as part of planning between producers, MAG andAgrocalidad, the requirements to obtain the certification ofGood Agricultural Practices (BPA)and fruit free from the fruit in several farms, which guarantees the quality and health of the product.

"Through scheduled crops we add volumes of export pitahaya; to this the certifications of BPA and free of the fruit are added to have ease of placing the product in exporters with destinations to several countries," he saidEduardo González, president of the Association of Pitahaeros and Fruits Amazonians of El Pangui.

While,Byron Zari, Agronomist of the Mag Specialist in Pitahaya Crops, he mentioned that this variety of plant is native to the Amazon, so its planting for commercial purposes has interesting results of adaptability, precocity and productivity in the El Pangui canton.

For its side,Juan Pablo Castillo, District Director of MAG in Zamora ChinchipeHe said that the association will continue to be supported so that this item becomes a dynamizer of the sector's economy.

"In this 2021 we will continue to train new pitahayeros in agronomic issues, harvest for export and advice to certify new crops in obtaining BPA and free of fruit fly," he said.