Chile: More than six million kilos of blueberries are exported by the Los Ríos Region

10/02/2017

In the midst of certification work for blueberries for export, the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG) is located in the Los Ríos Region. The activity was supervised by the Seremi de Agricultura, Claudia Lopetegui together with the Regional Director of SAG, Jorge Oltra, during a visit to the PI Berries export plant in Máfil.

According to the latest fruit register, the Region has more than a thousand 400 hectares of blueberry production, producing only so far this season 2016-2017, 6 million 500 thousand kilos of fruit. The above means an increase of 24% compared to the 2015 - 2016 season, since there is an increase of 290 thousand boxes to date, which are destined for the markets of the United States, European Union, China, Korea, Taiwan and Argentina.

In this regard, the Agriculture Seremi positively assessed the growth of the sector. "In high season, the blueberry industry is a development engine that delivers work to 56 a thousand people in our region, so for the Ministry of Agriculture it is vital to protect the phytosanitary and zoosanitary patrimony, since that condition is what today allows exports in the agricultural sector"He said.

During the day, the authorities toured the orchards, observed the harvesting and production processes, as well as participating in the certification work. The export company visited harvested 76 hectares of blueberries of different varieties such as elliot, camellia, briggita, diuk and legacy, among others. During this season they hope to reach the million kilos of the fruit to export mainly to the United States.

"The work carried out by the service in fiscalization and protection of the phytosanitary patrimony is fundamental so that we can reach the markets without problems. In this sense, we have always had a very good disposition of the SAG to support us throughout the export process, the fact that we leave consolidated from the region, in containers direct to port, is the result of a joint work", Pi Berries Operations Manager, Mauricio Riffo.

For his part, the Regional Director of the SAG, highlighted the constant work of the Service in the matter. "To get to this last stage of the certification, work has been done throughout the year. The export process begins with the registration of participating companies and producers, field monitoring, authorizations according to the requirements of the destination markets, among others. To which is added the surveillance and agricultural trapping that we carry out in the orchards to rule out the presence of pests and diseases that may affect the development of the field", He explained.

Source: Futrono Diary