agriculture

Herb sales up

Gabriel Rodríguez/la prensa

fragrant:Culantro farmers are reporting brisk sales and looking for foreign markets for their produce.991068

Farmer Pedro Chiari had a good year in 2007, and thinks this year can get even better.

Chiari farms culantro, and he said that demand for the herb has never been higher.

Culantro, an ingredient featured in numerous local dishes, grows as easily in the wild as it does on farms. In fact, some families in rural areas have been able to supplement their income by harvesting wild culantro and selling it.

But farming culantro has started to become a big business. Advances in farming techniques have resulted in crops that feature longer leaves, making them more attractive to buyers. These new strains are also more robust, meaning they hold up better when shipped long distances.

Because of this, farmers such as Chiari are hoping they can find a foreign market for their produce.

The Instituto de Mercadeo Agropecuario (IMA) receives about 400,000 bundles of culantro a year, most of them from farms in Coclé, the Darién and the Chepo area.