Pests cast doubt on corn producers

Image: Expreso

Angel Suarez administrator of the Cañitas Farm, located in the Puebloviejo county, expects that this winter harvest is good. But the question is generated by the attack of the “lobster that affects the 90 hectares of the farm” and he has to spray every 8 days.

He expects to get about 150 quintals per hectare, but he does not want that the price fall below $ 15.83 he got last year by quintal.

Yellow corn is one of the most important crops in the country. According to the 2014 survey in Ecuador, 381,066 hectares were harvested, with a production of 1’536.508 metric tons, according to figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC for its Spanish acronym).

54.38% of production (835,604 tonnes) comes from Los Rios, 14.59% from Manabi and 14.45% from Guayas. The average productivity of the country of that year was 4.03 metric tons per hectare.

Source: http://expreso.ec/expreso/plantillas/nota.aspx?idart=8797399&idcat=38229&tipo=2