The malanga (Colocasia esculenta) value chain in the municipality of Actopan Veracruz

Abstract

Objective: During this work, the links of the taro (Colocasia esculenta) value chain were identified and analyzed in the Municipality of Actopan, Veracruz, its deficiencies, its areas of opportunity were identified and simulations of the income generated by this crop were carried out

Design/methodology/approach: The research was carried out in the municipality of Actopan, Veracruz, Mexico, in the town of Santa Rosa, with producers and industrializers from this area. The research carried out is exploratory and random descriptive with a qualitative and quantitative approach. The research instruments used were: direct observation, interviews with key informants, and reflection and analysis workshops to learn what the links of the value chain are and how they operate within the taro agroecosystem in the study region.

Results: Six links in the value chain of the taro agroecosystem in the study region were identified and characterized, which are: Suppliers of inputs, production, harvest and post-harvest, collection and distribution, transformation-packaging-packaging and marketing. The main problems are: Half of the producers we worked with are small-scale, they only plant between 0.5 and 3.0 hectares with average annual yields of 50 tons per hectare. There are high prices of agricultural inputs; low market prices of the product; pests and diseases, the commercialization of the product is carried out through retail and wholesale collectors in the region and the agreements between the producers and them are mostly informal. It was detected that the main market for taro that is produced in the Municipality of Actopan and its destination is international, 90% of the market for fresh taro is for the United States. The best-organized packinghouse in the region has monthly yields that range from 126% the lowest to 169% the highest.

Limitations on study/implications: Regarding the yield simulations, it is necessary to apply them to medium and small packers to present a general comparison of the area.

Findings/conclusions: The production and commercialization of taro in the study area has a great economic and social impact, generating economic income and temporary jobs throughout the year due to the characteristics of this crop; it has low production costs compared to other crops and a high return on investment. In general, it benefits the economic agents of the value chain. However, the lack of organization of the actors that make up the value chain does not allow them to use economies of scale, access preferential markets and as a consequence the economic benefits are not distributed equally among all the links.