Exporting avocados to the US could be seriously impacted. The USDA (The United States Department of Agriculture) punishes Junta Local de Sanidad Vegetal de Uruapan (Uruapan Local Board of Vegetable Sanitation) and avocado growers.
USDA detected certain anomalies that may affect avocado exports to the United States, for which it issued a statement prohibiting the harvest of avocados from September 1 to 12.
Based on the estimated production of 10 tons of avocados per hectare, the anomaly detected was that the small orchards brought 47 tons of avocado to the packing facility.
According to a statement issued by the USDA to the Association of Growers and Packing facilities of Mexico (APEAM) determines that last weekend it was detected that small orchards arrived with more fruit than is contemplated to produce. Each one corresponds to the constituency of Uruapan Local Board of Vegetable Sanitation, headed by Iván Vargas, this action determined that they were complicit, which led to the suspension of those orchards for one year; if it occurs again, the export program among with packing facilities and the entire Uruapan Local Board of Vegetable Sanitation would be removed. Therefore, from September 1 to September 12, no orchard harvests are allowed on municipal lands to take proper measures to resume the program.
Three thousand tons of avocados are packed weekly. The price at the moment ranges between 60 pesos (3USD) per kilogram. Thousands of agriculture workers who earn around 500 pesos (25USD) a day for working in the fields would make $0, which also compromises people's safety.
It is essential to know that the USDA is the United States department responsible for verifying the health, safety, and legal origin of the fruit and complying with all the regulations in the agricultural industry, for which it mandates that order must be placed.
In other words, the export program that had over 20 years will be at serious risk, affecting 7000 producers attached to this organization, which recently renewed its board of directors but will not assume the position until October 15 of the current year.
Therefore, the president of the board, make Iván Vargas, is responsible for ensuring order and avoiding the loss of exports that benefit Mexico’s economy.
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