More than 150 agricultural producers participated in the third regional meeting 2022 organized by FEDEFRUTA, PROCHILE and the Colchagua-San Fernando Farmers' Association, which took place at the San Fernando Country Club, located in the O'Higgins region.
The event was chaired by Carolina Dosal, Vice President of Fedefruta, who spoke about the national and regional fruit scene in relation to the impact of the logistics crisis and the rise in costs experienced by agricultural inputs.
“In 2022, half of the producers had between 30% and 60% of loss of condition in their production to be sold, and 60% of the producers had an increase in labor costs between 20% and 30%, on the other hand, 65% of the producers showed an increase in internal transport costs (freight) of between 20% and 40% plus a general increase in the costs of primary inputs such as agrochemicals, fertilizers and others.”, explained the Vice President of Fedefruta.
The event also included a presentation by Francisco Labarca, Founding Partner of South Port Shipping, who spoke about the “Logistics strategy for the perishable export market, internal and external considerations.” Labarca raised the need to make progress in various areas, such as port infrastructure projects, roads, especially in the central area.
The second presentation was given by Benjamín Barros, Partner at the firm Agrocapital, who addressed “How to organize yourself financially to better face the next season.” In turn, Gerardo Wijnant, Deputy Manager of Impact and Ecosystem at Banca Ética and Daniela López, Deputy Commercial Manager of the Environment Area at Banca Ética, presented their financing proposal that is geared towards the advancement of sustainable agriculture.
Export of cherries for the 2022-23 season
«Cherry export market, a look at the 2022-23 season» was the title of the closing talk given by Claudio Vial, General Manager of Exportadora Ranco; Vial made a complete analysis of the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, focusing on the main markets for Chilean cherries, China, the USA and Korea, and he was also emphatic in pointing out the need to diversify markets.
«Logistics should work better than last year, there is a little more availability of ships, containers and ports in China are diversifying, so we are very hopeful that this will work in the best way possible», Vial pointed out
Cherry producers who attended the event highlighted the importance of this type of meeting.
"Very good, very interesting, we are very optimistic; this season we are using strategies to advance production, but the most important thing is that China frees up the ports, (solves) the lack of labor, and improves its logistics, that is the key.", said Fernando Mansur, a cherry producer.
Alejandro Saintard, who has 10 varieties of cherries in his orchard, begins the harvest on November 18 and finishes on December 27. His concern, like that of many, is to arrive in the Asian giant before the Chinese New Year, which is why he considers this type of event to be very important.
«These Fedefruta events are the ones that bring together producers, therefore they provide valuable information about how the season is going, what problems need to be faced, mainly the logistics problems that occurred last season and that will probably come this year; as a cherry producer, you have to be prepared for what is coming and put your chips in and do the work well to have a normal season., concluded the cherry producer.
