agriculture

Scarce limes cost more

la prensa

Squeezed: Lime growers who lack good irrigation systems produce less fruit during the relatively dry months of summer.987624

There are no reliable numbers for the annual production of the creole or persian lime in Panama, but you can be sure that the fruit will be less abundant and more costly from November through the first weeks of March.

According to the president of the Asociación de Citricultores in the province of Coclé, Germán Chacín, the price of a sack of 100 limes could climb as high as $9, an increase of 38 percent compared to other times of the year.

Statistics from the business information bureau of the Instituto de Mercadeo Agropecuario (IMA) indicate that the price of 100 creole limes went from $3.25 in December of 2007 to $5.35 in January 2008 and until yesterday cost $6.50 per 100. That's a little under 7 cents per lime. The cost of 100 persian limes is currently $7 per 100, or exactly 7 cents per fruit.

There is only one explanation for the dwindling supply and rising cost of limes: inadequate irrigation. During the relatively drier summer months in Panama, growers who lack a good irrigation system do not have a good harvest, which has an affect on the market.

"Whoever doesn't have irrigation has a serious problem, because you can't take advantage of the months when prices are higher. . .If you can't sell in the summer, the economic benefit of limes in not very great," said Chacín. "My expectations as a producer are that the price of 100 limes will exceed $9 before summer is over."

Growing limes without an irrigation system costs $2.50 per 100, and with irrigation $3.50. However in the months from April to October, when there is a superabundance of the fruit, the prices can fall as low as $2.

Marcos Moscoso, the director of business information at IMA, assured that lime trees require a lot of water but that just how much is not known.

Moscoso and Chacín alike say that part of the problem is that both the creole and persian limes produced without irrigation during the summer are not only fewer but smaller and do not satisfy the demands of the market.

Chacín, who is one of the country's largest producers of oranges, grapefruits, and limes, estimates that there are no more than 80 irrigated hectares of lime in Panama and that the majority are concentrated in Coclé. He calculates that dedicated persian lime plantations cover around 110 hectares with some 250 trees per hectare producing about 1000 limes. Around 300 hectares are given over to the production of creole limes.

The president of the citrus growers association also noted that many limes are "home-grown," that is, produced by local families in the fields behind their houses. The families don't invest much in maintenance, but they do manage to produce enough fruit to take to market and sell at low prices. Just how much they produce and how much they earn is not known.

Chacín believes the hour has arrived for all lime growers and the lime market to organize itself to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them.