Ultraroma, the Colombian grower and exporter that has built up a successful herb business in Europe, has extended its portfolio with the addition of a year-round papaya programme.
Production of the Tainung variety is being carried out on 200 hectares in La Union, an hour’s drive from Cali.
Renzo Antognoli O’Ryan, who runs Ultraroma, told FPJ: “The weather conditions in this production zone are perfect for papayas and we have entered into a partnership with local growers to produce around 80,000 kilos a week throughout the year.
“Tainung is very similar to Maradol; it is a very large papaya with an average weight of 2kg a piece. The advantage of this variety when compared with Maradol is in its maturity process, which is more controllable. That enables us to ensure uniformity of colour as the fruit reaches maturity.”
The fruit, which is packed in boxes of nines and fives, has met with strong demand, he added on a visit to the UK last week, both in its fresh form and for use in the processing sector. “We will be more than happy to customise packaging to suit customer requirements,” said Antognoli.
“Our idea is to build - as we did on herbs - a good partnership with a client in the UK that can manage the distribution of the fruit.”
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