Agroaldea
This was one of the conclusions reached at the Technical Conference on “Improving the Profitability of Tomatoes in the Canary Islands” organized by Cajamar. – Canarias Caja Rural and held in the COAGRISÁN cooperative.
More than a hundred farmers, technical, providers, managers and directors of the Canary Islands export tomato sector, arrivals from Fuerteventura, Tenerife, southeast and north of Gran Canaria, They participated in a conference in which the central axis consisted of agreeing on the factors that affect the profitability of this crop.
After the welcome by the president of COAGRISAN, Juan José de el Pino, the territorial director of Canarias Caja Rural-Cajamar, Sergio Pérez and the president of FEDEX, Jose Juan Bonny, the scientific collaborator of the Canary Islands Institute of Agricultural Research, Vanessa Raya, presented the conclusions of the investigation carried out.
Raya indicated that the profitability of this crop depends on the sum of several factors, highlighting the protection structure and cultivation technique as the main ones. In this sense, Vanessa Raya highlighted that in the Canary Islands there are many structures to improve. The case of COAGRISÁN is very different since it is a clear example of the application of the sum of factors that I have talked about., pointed out the technique.
The coordinator of Innovation and Transfer of the Cajamar Foundation spoke along the same lines., Juan Carlos Garrido Gázquez, corroborating the importance of improving structures and the system, which would lead to reducing other costs such as phytosanitary inputs. Making the structure more efficient must be reflected in a reduction in costs and an increase in production., therefore greater profitability, Gázquez explained.
Asked about the COAGRISÁN model, Juan Carlos Gázquez praised the system applied, recognizing that production is one of the highest in Spain, even surpassing large producers from the eastern part of the peninsula. The next step, to the court of Gázquez, involves continuing to reduce inputs.
In the debate, which was joined by the Head of the Agricultural Technical Department of COAGRISÁN, Marcelo Rodríguez Quintana; Nurseries and plant COAGRISAN health technician, Marcelino Suarez Ramirez; the integrated Control and ecological cultivation of COAGRISAN technician, Manuel Velázquez Delgado and the agronomist and consultant, Roel Bruynel, The need to add factors for the profitability of the crop was further explored..
Here the figure of the farmer/producer took on a predominant role., ultimately, is directly responsible for optimizing the crop, making it an effective and efficient system. Not only the application of good practices achieves an optimal result. Also perseverance and dedication, as well as common sense, They are part of “the total package of factors”.
The general director of COAGRISÁN, Jacinto Godoy, was in charge of reading the conclusions that had been reached during the Conference. Like this, highlighted that “technical” factors should be classified as subfactors, for
focus attention on a single factor, which he described as a “varietal factor” because it depends exclusively on the variety of the person who is responsible for optimizing and profitability of the subfactors..
Godoy added that success or failure depends on the way each person manages and works.. The profitability of tomato cultivation pivots in a high percentage on the way of doing things of each producer.; the human factor is decisive.
The president of COAGRISÁN recalled that, Although the Conference had a marked technical nature, The export tomato sector is in a very delicate moment due to the repeated failures of the administrations with the Strategic Plan that was approved in 2008.
Despite the non-compliance, the sector has not stopped investing, modernize, incorporate, fit, definitely, improve to achieve the profitability that here at La Aldea we have shown is possible, Del Pino stated.
On the other hand, the territorial director of Canarias Caja Rural-Cajamar, Sergio Perez, He highlighted that the objective of these sessions is to transfer technical knowledge that contributes to greater profitability of agricultural operations..
Through these sessions we present the lines of work that Canarias Caja Rural-Cajamar develops in our research centers, horticultural innovation and experimentation with the aim of contributing to the evolution and growth of the agri-food sector, Perez added..
