A delegation from Mexican state of Quintana Roo visited Europe this week on a fact-finding mission to explore opportunities for the state’s fruit exports. The mission, which forms part of the ‘Impulsa Quintana Roo’ initiative, hopes to gain a better understanding of trends in the European fruit market, as well as looking at examples of best practices in a bid to improve the competitiveness of local fruit production.
“Our objective is to understand value-based business models in the fruit sector that can help local companies in Quintana Roo State to be more competitive and sustainable in the long-term,” said Francisco Javier Díaz Carvajal, secretary of economic development for the state of Quintana Roo and project leader.
The state produces a range of fruits and vegetables including pineapples, watermelons, papayas, citrus, dragon fruit, and chillis, most of which are grown on smallholdings of less than 10ha.
According to Díaz, growers are beginning to organise themselves into producer organisations with a view to establishing an export industry. The government is also keen to attract local and foreign investment in infrastructure to improve the cold chain and facilitate exports.
One area already identified by the initiative is the ripe and ready-to-eat sector. “We have a particular interest in these areas and will be carrying out a benchmarking analysis to understand how this business model operates,” Díaz said, adding that this would look at good agricultural practices for growers, traceability, innovation and development, packaging and specialised transport logistics.
After visiting companies in the UK, the delegation travelled to Amsterdam to meet with producers, importers and distributors.
