The number of mango producing farms in Colombia authorised to export to the European Union are being incresed just as Japan’s fresh cherry production in 2021/22 is estimated to fall to 13,000 MT due to severe frost damage.
The country’s production in the 2021/22 marketing year is projected to fall to 13,000 metric tons due to severe frost damage in the largest domestic cherry-producing region. FAS/Tokyo forecasts that poor domestic production will lead to increased US cherry imports in 2021/22.
For peaches and nectarines, FAS/Tokyo forecasts a slight recovery in Japanese production in 2021/22 marketing year over poor 2020/21 marketing year production levels.
Yamagata prefecture, located 250 miles north of Tokyo, produces approximately 76 percent of Japan’s fresh cherries, followed by Hokkaido and Yamanashi prefectures. According to the 2021 online summary of the “Yamagata and Japan’s Cherry Production, Distribution etc.” published by Yamagata prefecture’s Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries division, the number of cherry farms in Yamagata is continuously declining.
The trend reflects a country-wide agricultural challenge of a lack of farm successors and labor. In response to this trend, there is increasing consolidation of cherry orchards so the average acreage per farm is increasing and partially buoys production levels.
In the 2020/21 marketing year (April – March), harvested area for fresh cherries in Japan fell slightly to 4,315 hectares (ha) compared to 4,320 ha in 2019/20 ,arketing year. FAS/Tokyo forecasts this trend to continue in the 2021/22 marketing year with harvested area expected to reach 4,310 ha.
In the mean time, the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA) stated that seven mango-producing farms had been enabled to export the fruit to the European market.
The farms are located in the municipalities of San Luis and Venadillo, department of Tolima, they have a production area of 64.79 hectares, and grow Tommy, Keitt, Filipino, Van Dyke, Yulima, and Nam Dok Mai mango varieties, among others.
The farms authorised by the ICA met the requirements for monitoring and control of the fruit fly for mango exports to the European Union included under the Systems Approach measure, registering density values within the BAT strategy (Fly/ Trap/ Day) that are lower than or equal to 0.5 for Anastrepha spp.
In Colombia, production sites must have a surveillance system for fruit flies with a McPhail trap every 20 hectares for at least three months before the start of the harvest and throughout the rest of the year. Controls must be carried out on a weekly basis and the attractive used must have an official registry.
In addition, the fallen mango fruits of all the varieties planted in the place or even of the host plant species must be collected and properly disposed of; this work should be done every seven days. Furthermore, the collection center must be sheltered.
Producer compliance with these measures and the ICA’s extensive support to consolidate areas that are free and areas that have a low prevalence of fruit flies and other quarantine pests have allowed Colombia to implement the Systems Approach to dispatch mangoes to the European Union without having to apply additional quarantine treatments.
