The area of Primary Sector Tenerife Council launches a campaign to promote the consumption of local avocado. During the remainder of the month and next January, advertising inviting you to purchase this product, labeled with full safety guarantees, will be visible on different media. From social networks to traditional and digital media, billboards, posters or eleven large screens in the airport arrivals area Tenerife North-City of La Laguna. The plantations of the so-called green gold have doubled in the last five years on the Island until reaching 1,100 hectares. Technicians appeal to balance to slow down the future growth of the cultivated area based on the high water consumption required compared to the possibilities of high profitability. The island councilor, Valentín González, explains that the objective of this initiative, which alludes to responsibility, is to “raise consumers’ awareness about the importance of buying correctly identified avocados” to benefit the development of the entire production chain. Of the product and the producer. González is accompanied in the detailed explanation by Domingo Ríos, Head of the Technical Service and Rural Development of the Cabildo.
Consumption, production and marketing
Promotion of the consumption, production and marketing of avocado with premises based on the dialogue between the island institution, agricultural organizations and the State Security Forces and Bodies, all members of the Agricultural Sector Security Commission. Among them, the Coordinator of Farmers and Ranchers Organizations (COAG), the Union of Small Farmers and Ranchers (UPA), the Association of Farmers and Ranchers of Canary Islands (Asaga) and the Avocado Producers Association. Representatives of Civil Guard –it is worth highlighting the work of its Roca team, specialized in the agricultural world–, National Police and Canarian Police were present in the Noble Hall. They influenced the improvement of data regarding the recurrent thefts of avocados in the field and from the National Police Corpsthe agent highlighted at the event stressed the need to report the 112 or to the agricultural organizations with which they are in permanent contact. Members of these peasant groups also attended.
Double objective
Valentín González emphasizes that “with this campaign we pursue a double objective: to publicize the varieties of avocados that exist and are produced in Tenerife”, as well as “to raise awareness among consumers on the Island about the importance of taking into account, when of purchasing the product, which have duly certified origin, taking into account the labeling guarantee. González assures that “the design of this campaign, which will be multichannel, “It has had the involvement of the sector’s own professionals, who can provide information to consumers and suppliers about avocado cultivation in Tenerife.” “This is characterized by its seasonality with varieties that can be found on the market at different times of the year.” One of the objectives of this promotion focuses, González values, on “discouraging the purchase of avocados acquired outside of traceability channels and that do not meet the appropriate criteria for sale.” The counselor valued the level of awareness and commitment of farmers to achieve maximum efficiency in irrigation in a year of “water crisis.” He comments when questioned about the crop’s demand for a lot of water, which the technician relativized.
Increase in cultivation
In recent years, avocado cultivation has increased significantly in Tenerife, where more than 1,100 hectares the same. It is the one that has grown the most in the last five years, specifically above 100%. The vast majority of the fruit grown is sold in the local market. Tenerife’s coastal climate makes the Island an ideal area for avocados. Production went from 1.7 million kilos in 2012 to more than 4.29 million in 2020. The majority varieties planted are Hass, and to a lesser extent, Fuerte. Domingo Ríos assessed the future of the Reed variant and announced that “we have worked on 87 varieties and between 15 and 20 have commercialization possibilities, including the quality of the fruit.” Currently, cultivation is expanding outside the traditional limits of the Güímar and La Orotava Valleys with plantations in almost all of the coastal municipalities of the Island.
10,000 kilograms
A normal year the production of avocados in the Tenerife countryside is between 10,000 and 11,000 kilos per hectare. This is not the case today due to the effect of successive heat waves.
11 large screens
The campaign to promote the consumption of Tenerife avocados includes its dissemination on eleven large screens in the arrivals area of the Tenerife North-Ciudad de La Laguna Airport.
