Members of the Colombian Hass avocado industry have joined forces to form the national corporation CORPOHASS, aiming for better coordination and improving export prospects in the United States. 

CORPOHASS comprises 60 growers and exporters of the fruit from the departments of Cundinamarca, Risaralda, Quindío, Caldas, Tolima, Valle del Cauca and Antioquia.

In a release, the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA) said the group was mainly formed to meet demands from the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

The country currently has 8,800 hectares of avocado production in 65 municipalities in nine departments, with the industry shipping 25 containers of the fruit to Europe in the first quarter this year.

"The objective of CORPOHASS is that the sector holds just one national representation and one dialogue in the future avocado export process to the United States," ICA general manager Teresita Beltrán Ospina said in the release.

She added that the institute has been leading this process since 2011 with detailed field surveys collecting information on production and plant health.

The corporation's 11 board members are Diego Aristizábal (Quindío); Juan Camilo Ruiz (Antioquia); Diego Duque (Valle); Rodrigo Garavito (Tolima); Jean Pierre Coulet (Caldas); Fernando Bernal;  Christian  Gartner (Cundinamarca); Pedro Pablo Díaz (Antioquia); Faustina Rodallega (Cauca); Hector Fabio Moncada (Risaralda) y Andrea Idarraga (Quindío).

Photo: ICA

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