Sugarcane, avocado and blueberries are the main crops in Olmos project
Sugarcane, avocado, cranberry, asparagus and table grapes are the main products grown on the 22,000 hectares of land that were incorporated five years ago into agriculture with the implementation of the Olmos Project, in the Lambayeque region.
Sugarcane cultivation represents almost half of the agricultural area installed in this lambayecano valley with 10,729 hectares and other 5,728 hectares are dedicated to avocado cultivation
“Sugarcane is the crop that has the largest extensions. The Agrolmos plant is producing blond sugar that has been distributed in the local market, ”said Alfonso Pinillos Moncloa, Investment Director of the H2Olmos Concessionaire.
The executive said that 5,728 hectares of avocado, 1,671 of blueberries, 766 hectares of asparagus, 470 hectares of table grapes, 467 corn and 300 hectares of mango have also been planted.
Similarly, 1,869 hectares are used for the cultivation of passion fruit, alfalfa, onion, pepper, quinoa, lemon, banana, pomegranate and pineapple.
Pinillos Moncloa stressed that in an irrigation project the greatest investments are in agribusiness companies “because they have to make investment in the purchase of the land, leveling them, among others. Also, the investment itself in the crops themselves where there are different investment values that can range from 10,000 to 50,000 dollars per hectare, in the case of blueberries, ”he said.
He said that five years after Olmos started operations, “we have 22,000 hectares of sown land, which is a record. We have not seen that production capacity in other valleys of Peru and the accumulated investment on the side of agribusiness companies is more than 700 million dollars, which means a little less than double the investment in the work, ”he said in dialogue with the Andean Agency.
The executive stressed that the engine that generates an agribusiness project in a region is very important. "This investment has generated a workforce that reaches to date the 12,000 jobs directly in the companies and near 20,000 indirect jobs, in different industries that support agro-industrial development," he observed.
The executive estimated that with the maturity of this project, that is to say in ten years, “the figures we are considering should reach close to 1,200 millions of dollars of investment on the side of agribusiness companies,” he said.
He also said that at the end of this year it is expected to reach about 180 millions of dollars in exports of products such as avocado, blueberries, table grapes and asparagus. “It is a figure that is far from the 600 million dollars that should be given to the maturity of the project, because not yet 100 percent of the land is sown and, of the sown land the crops have not yet reached maturity as the case of the avocado trees that are just three years old that are giving 10 to 12 tons per hectare, but when it is five or six years old the same tree must be in the 20 tons per hectare, that's why 600 millions of dollars are being estimated in about five more years, exports only from the Olmos Project, ”he explained.
The specialist mentioned that in the Old Valley of Olmos that concentrates a total of 5,500 hectares of land, only about 600 hectares have been developed, which represents a long gap to be achieved. “We know that the government is working to seek the associativity of families, but we believe that there is a very important gap and the State should take action on the matter and accelerate that process because there is a real need in this valley. We have the water resource, but for different aspects it has not been possible to develop agriculture as the valley deserves it and that in the next years it can reach an important level of development, at the same time as it has been developing in the new valley ”, commented.
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