2023-04-23 03:31:00
With the contribution of different institutions and after an investigation carried out by technicians from the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA), the Alto Valle could become a pole of hop production that would serve to supply beer producers in a good part of the region.
A few days ago, the Municipality of Roca announced that a Hop Center will be built with the aim that production can grow in the region, since “Without a processing plant, you cannot grow”pointed out Mario López, the Secretary of Production of the same institution.
The idea came from an investigation carried out by Walter Nieves, Patricia Villarreal, Alfredo Rosati, Andrea Rodríguez and Jonathan Lago from INTA, where they concluded that the Alto Valle has favorable conditions for the development of hop cultivation.
In this way, from the Municipality they project the construction of a processing plant that will give growers a better perspectivecounting on the concrete possibility of processing and preserving their production for sale.
It is a project that It has been formulated jointly with the private sector and in the same way contemplates a mixed investment and administration.
The municipality will contribute the land and part of the construction of the plant, mWhile a partnership formed between the private sector and the municipality will provide the necessary machinery to obtain the final marketable product.. It is a process that consists of several stages, from harvest to arrival at the shed where it is threshed, dehydrated, baled and subsequently pelletized.
The planned investment from the Municipality is $100 million.
Mario López, said that three years ago they began to carry out hop courses, hired a technician and carried out training. there was that they realized what the hops meant for our region.
“They explained to us that the crop had a ‘bottleneck’ because it required a processing plant to obtain it, since it cannot be done without that,” he explained.
“The idea is to develop, generate work, production and diversify, not replace, but complement”he clarified.
The plant is designed to process between 65,000 and 85,000 kg of pelleted product, depending on how the harvest yielded. “If the year is good there are many more kilos,” López clarified.
Advantages to produce hops in the region
“Nowadays the demand changed and there is a great need, since between 8 and 10 million dollars are imported to cover the demand, “said the official.
“This year there is a great shortage due to the fact that hop pellets are not imported due to a lack of foreign currency”explained López, since currently in the Argentine market the producers of the sector are going through a complicated panorama due to the great obstacles and difficulties that beer producers encounter when having to import the main raw material.
An important factor is that hops are a profitable cropas demonstrated by the INTA investigation.
«This year the price skyrocketed and we are talking about a 40% increase in dollars and also it is not achieved, the business is quite closed, “said the secretary.
Another advantage is that it does not have too severe adversities. «The late frosts in our area do not affect it, the hail affects it, but much less, depending on when they occur. Nor is there a development of very conditioning pests », he recounted.
Another advantage is that the Alto Valle has favorable agroclimatic conditions in order to carry out its production.
Brazil is the number one importer in the world and does not have the necessary climatic conditions to do so, and although its productions are low, they continue to do so. “Today that country produces close to 80 hectares with light supplementation, because the crop needs more than 15 hours of light in summer, something that occurs naturally in our country.”
In the area there are producers, optimal natural resources, irrigated area, refrigeration capacity, cooperatives, workers, suppliers of inputs, technical and educational institutions.
Through this center “we have the opportunity to generate foreign currency,” explained the worker.
«We have export potential and we can be exporters of it and we are not left behind. If they can, why can’t we?
Without the plant it is impossible for anyone to want to plant hops. From the institution they began to carry out training and demands arose from fruit producers who have land and capacity who want to develop it, “but obviously need the plant.”
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