2024-07-29 06:33:25
‘Zuluaga is a mega banana supply center’. Banana production in the Huila department is growing and the product is presented as an excellent option of very good quality. Carlos Montero, president of Asproplat, spoke with Diario del Huila about the opportunities in the sector.
HUILA DAILY, ECONOMY
By: Gustavo Patiño
In 2023, 216 tons of bananas were produced in the department of Huila. This represented 52% of the volume produced in terms of fruit and vegetable products, as indicated to Diario del Huila by the Colombian Fruit and Vegetable Association. In light of this, this media spoke with Carlos Montero, legal representative of Asproplat. The banana producers’ association located in the town of Zuluaga, in the municipality of Garzón. Who gave an account of the progress made by this production line in the department of Huila.
Banana, the best partner
Montero pointed out that currently, in the department, there is an area of between 24 thousand and 27 thousand hectares planted with bananas. Not only as the only crop, but in association with other products such as coffee, cocoa and avocado. “At this moment it is the first line, we are almost surpassing the coffee line. It is very good and has been very good and the department of Huila has put a lot into production.”
“But we also have bananas, which have come in to surpass it. In the sense that every crop here is associated with bananas and there are also plots of bananas only,” said Montero. “At this time, it is advisable to manage diversification on farms. And the one that has always been more comfortable with coffee has always been bananas, they are very good partners. So it has always been managed in association and it is giving very good results and it even requires less work. It is easier in marketing and management in terms of harvesting and everything, it is much more favorable.”
Excellent quality
The leader of the banana producers in central Huila said that the product being produced in Zuluaga is of excellent quality, not only in terms of the fruit, but also in terms of the seeds. “A few years ago, officials from Fritolay in Ibagué came here and conducted surveys on all the farms, but they also took samples that were taken to the laboratory and provided all the specifications that they need for fresh produce, for packaging, for frying, for everything that has to do with the transformation and industrialization of the product. It provides all the requirements that a company like theirs needs to bring it to the national and possibly international market as well.”
Likewise, Montero pointed out that, in terms of seed production, they have had the permanent support of ICA, “all our seed production processes are linked and evaluated by ICA and they always demand that we be better for the production of seeds free of pests and diseases and we are producing them to take them to departments such as Tolima and Cundinamarca, they have asked us from other parts of the country such as Caquetá, Putumayo and here within the department of Huila.”
Supply center
The banana producer pointed out that Zuluaga has become a supply center for this product not only for the Huila territory, but for other parts of the country, it has even reached neighboring countries such as Venezuela, “from here, from Zuluaga, bananas leave for different parts of the country, I think that even Venezuela is receiving bananas from here, because a megacenter has been built here that receives bananas from other municipalities, not only from Garzón, but municipalities such as Tarqui, El Agrado, El Pital, Guadalupe, Suaza.”
«And it is marketed here in Zuluaga, as a marketing center, it leaves here in boxes and bags after being washed and arranged, for the different market places in different parts of the country, I even think the coast and Cúcuta, like Bogotá, a lot of banana leaves from here for Bogotá, there are even peelers from the Coffee Belt that ask us for the product. Bananas are leaving here daily,” he said, “as for the internal consumption of the entire department, all the municipalities that are in the hottest part get their supplies from us from here.”
A very good option
Montero assured that this product has become an excellent option for farmers in central Huila, “right now banana is proving to be a very good opportunity for farmers, especially here in the center of the department, where we have our crops, because here it is a production quarry, banana is produced here daily, trucks are taking the product from the hamlets to Zuluaga and then in turbos they are moving weekly from 90, 120, up to 150,000 kg weekly at least, if not more.”
“There is a lot of plantain movement here at the moment, so it has been a great help after coffee, because you know that coffee, in terms of marketing and profit, is much more expensive. Plantain is therefore much better due to its quality and because we are strategically located in a marketing center,” he said.
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The farmer also pointed out that they have been talking with the departmental government to advance in the industrialization, not only of banana as a product, but also in terms of the use of the shoots for animal feed and its fiber for the production of other products, “we are very happy, because we already had a first meeting with the current Secretary of Agriculture, who listened to us about some projects that we have in mind to move forward, but it is to seek the transformation and industrialization of banana, considering that the plant not only produces the banana bunch, but that other products can be used from it such as organic fertilizers, shoots to prepare animal feed, fiber to make packaging and to build fabrics, belts, bags and other products that are developed by companies that take advantage of this product,” he said.
“We are proposing at this moment that we hope the State will help us set up a processing plant here, but we were also talking with the Secretary of Agriculture and he also told us to think about fried foods and packaging, and we had already thought about that in advance, those are the concerns that we have here as an association in the town of Zuluaga.”
Exchange with the academy
Montero also pointed out that their production model has served for exchange with the academy, as they have had visits from universities from other regions, in addition to the Universidad Surcolombiana and the Sena of Angostura, “we are also like a pilot school, we have been very visible in this industry and in the way of working, so we have had visits from students from the University of Cundinamarca based in Facatativá, its faculty of agronomy, they have come, we teach them, we share our knowledge with them.”
Spanish:SENA students from the last semester of technology in Angostura come, likewise agricultural engineering students from the Universidad Surcolombiana come to see how the physical plant works, how everything is managed, and it has already been very useful to them and obviously it also helps us, since we are serving as a training school, students from Ciénaga in Magdalena and also from Córdoba have also come to see the process, to perhaps also replicate it in those regions and there we are going little by little, but well,” he assured and pointed out that the support of the national and departmental governments has been fundamental, with which they hope to continue counting on, in addition to the municipality of Garzón, with which they have already been making some approaches.
“Our association has been working for 5 years now with all the regulations, because we spent many more years trying to work hard and at this moment we already have an established association and we have had support from the National Royalty System, from the Ministry, from the Huila Governorate itself in the past period,” he concluded.