Latin America’s slice of the world’s organic produce market is only 6%, even though it has 20% of the land certified for such products, said an agriculture specialist at an industry conference, Peruvian agriculture website Agraria.pe reported.

The region exports raw material with no value added, said Hernando Riveros of the Interamerican Institute of Agricultural Cooperation.

“In the region, we have always been exporters of raw materials,” he said at the conference held by Peru’s University of Applied Sciences, according to the website. And with organic crops, Latin America is repeating the pattern.

Although Latin America has 20% of the land certified for organic production, the value of the business is only 6% of the world’s total, the website said.

Riveros said Latin American growers must develop “intangibles” such as service after the sale, branding, special packaging and gourmet products, according to the website.

“The challenge is for people who work in agribusiness to understand that the added value is in the service that we offer to the consumer,” Riveros is quoted as saying.

For fresh products, Riveros stressed the importance of developing and managing a logistical chain to get products to the market at the right time.

“This is very important today in the food business. If you go to a supermarket in Japan or Italy, the fresh product is more expensive than the processed. The added value is in how the product arrives to the consumer,” he is quoted as saying. What is sought is that the product arrives in as little time as possible to the European consumer, he added, according to the website.

Photo: Agraria.pe

Source: www.freshfruitportal.com