Industry leaders in Chile have joined forces to create the Bureau of Public-Private Fruit Statistics, in a bid to help farmers better understand their risks and opportunities.

The bureau's creation was driven by the Professional Association of Fruit Nurseries (AGVF) with support from the Office of Agriculture Studies and Policy (ODEPA) and Regional Ministerial Secretaries (SEREMI).

The new entity will give producers and exporters detailed information about the nation's fruit, segmented by community, region, climate, species and variety.

O'Higgins Regional Secretary Mauricio Donoso has called the innovation a 'true industrial revolution' for the national fruit industry.

"Everyone will have valuable information before making any investment, which significantly reduces the risk in a business that for some species is very tight," he says.

"The industry supports farmers and the national fruit industry on this topic because it is an important and modern instrument to help decisions to plant, graft or pull out a variety or species."

His comments were echoed by AGVF manager Maritrini Lapuente, who told www.freshfruitportal.com the new tool would help growers make timely decisions about what to plant, or to expand their plantations of a particular fruit.

Lapuente has called on the Agriculture and Livestock Service (SAG) to demand statements from growers to help provide information, in a similar way to what is done in the country's wine industry.

"It consists of finding a legal way to demand producers of fruit species declare new plantations, what they've pulled out and re-planted," she says.

She says it is also important to provide better information as reducing risk helps safeguard plant heritage.

www.freshfruitportal.com