A group of Hass avocado producers and exporters in Colombia has formed a national committee called CorpoHass Colombia in a bid to boost sector representation with a view to accessing the US import market.
According to the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA), CorpoHass will represent the Hass avocado industry’s interests on both a national and international level, and meets the demands of the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
“The objective of Corpohass is to provide the sector with one single representation and dialogue for the future export process of supplying Hass avocados to the US,” explained Teresita Beltrán Ospina, general manager of ICA.
Beltrán said ICA has been leading the process for access to the US market since 2011; conducting detailed field surveys to collect information on production and plant health in order to devise a working plan with UDSA-APHIS.
Colombia has approximately 8,800ha of avocados under production in 65 municipalities within nine departments, according to ICA.
During the first three months of 2013, the institute claims Colombia exported 25 containers of Hass avocados to Europe.
CorpoHass comprises 60 producers and exporters from Cundinamarca, Risaralda, Quindío, Caldas, Tolima, Valle and Antioquia.
Its board of directors include: Diego Aristizábal (Quindío); Juan Camilo Ruiz (Antioquia); Diego Duque (Valle); Rodrigo Garavito (Tolima); Jean Pierre Coulet (Caldas); Fernando Bernal; Christian Gartner (Cundinamarca); Pedro Pablo Díaz (Antioquia); Faustina Rodallega (Cauca); Hector Fabio Moncada (Risaralda) and Andrea Idarraga (Quindío).
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