A decade's worth of work has paid off for Colombia's cape gooseberry growers, who can now ship their fresh produce to the U.S. without requiring cold treatment. 

The country's Ministry of Agriculture said the lifting of restrictions applied to producers in the departments of Boyacá and Cundinamarca with farms above 2,200 meters (7,220 feet).

It estimated up to 40% of their costs would be saved by no longer needing to carry out the treatment.

Cape gooseberries also go by the names golden berries, physalis, aguaymanto and uchuva.

"We've been working on this for 10 years, and today, thanks to the agreement between the [Colombian Agriculture Institute] ICA and APHIS, the U.S. plant health authority, we will be able to boost our gape gooseberry exports to this market with a large reduction in costs and the guarantee of health standards and innocuousness," the Ministry said.

ICA Plant Protection deputy head Carlos Soto said the institute had been working for producers and exporters for a while, and believed they were now ready to begin exports under the agreed protocols.

"We can certify that our growing areas are completely free of fruit fly," he said.

In 2014 Colombia exported a total of 5,823 metric tons (MT) of the fruit at a value of US$30.2 million. These figures represented a 9% boost in volume and 14% increase in value year-on-year.

The Ministry said 99% of cape gooseberry exports were shipped to 10 markets, with some of the biggest being the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Canada.

"This is a huge opportunity for thousands of producers in 196 municipalities in Boyacá and Cundinamarca who will benefit under the new agreement," Agriculture Minister Aurelio Iragorri Valencia said.

The Work Plan was signed on Tuesday by representatives of the Ministry, AHPIS, the ICA, and the National Foreign Trade Association (Analdex).

To ship to the U.S., the grower must first be registered with the ICA. Currently producers covering 195 hectares out of 443 in Boyacá and 167 hectares out of 211 in Cundinamarca have registered, but these figures are now expected to rapidly increase.

Photo: Colombian Ministry of Agriculture

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