Baja Bernie - 2-28-2007 at 08:13 AM
China's Lords of Chile
Seated on the throne of the global hot foods empire, China
continues to dominate the international production of chile
peppers. Cited by Proceso magazine, a study reportedly in
the possession of Mexico's federal Ministry of Agriculture,
Livestock and Rural Development (Sagdr) reports that China
accounts for 37 percent of the world's planted chile
acreage, or more than 1,565,000 acres.
Mexico, a country whose indigenous food is peppered with
the spice of numerous chile varieties, comes in a far
second place, with about 442,000 acres of planted chile at
last report. Approximately 80 percent of Mexican chile
production is destined for the national market, while the
remaining 20 percent is shipped abroad.
Increasingly, Chinese-produced chile peppers are making
inroads into the Mexican market. Along with imports of
Peruvian harvested-peppers, Chinese chilies could be
depressing prices for the ancho, arbol, serrano and pasilla
varieties in Mexico. A Sagdr market report service listed
prices for the ancho and arbol varieties as dropping about
one US dollar per-kilo in the northern state of Durango
earlier this month. The price dip was notable at a time
when costs for countless other items in Mexico were
escalating. Chinese chile was also detected in Baja
California, Aguascalientes, Nayarit, San Luis Potosi,
Morelos and Puebla states.
According to the chile study cited by Proceso, global chile
production underwent a "spectacular" leap during the last
10 years, growing by 43 percent in planted acreage and
almost doubling in production yields. Improved technology
and irrigation methods are credited for aiding the chile
explosion. A handful of seemingly unlikely countries
excelled as leaders in chile crop yield per hectare,
including Kuwait, Israel, Japan, and Spain. The United
States ranked in a second tier of yield averages, while
Mexico ended up in an even lower category; Mexican farmers
harvested an average of 13.7 tons per hectare, a figure
below the world average of 14.38 tons per hectare.
One traditional chile-growing region that is not cashing in
on the international chile boom is the US border state of
New Mexico, where long green chile is practically a staple
and perhaps state's most important cultural icon. Since the
chile industry's heyday of the early 1990s, overall
production has plummeted. From 2002 to 2005, New Mexico
registered an annual chile harvest that fluctuated between
14,200-16,800 acres; yearly crops were less than half of
1992's record total of 34,500 acres. Cash receipts earned
by New Mexican chile growers ranged from about $41 million
dollars to $50 million dollars per year for the 2002-05
time period. The annual dollar figures were comparable to
the value of the 1998 chile crop. All this at a time when
global demand for chile peppers was soaring.
Unleashing a flood of Mexican jalapeno, cayenne and green
chile imports, the North American Free Trade Agreement is
frequently blamed for much of the downturn in New Mexico's
production. Like Mexico, New Mexico also faces competition
from peppers produced in China and other nations. Pest
infestations and plant diseases, combined with the
conversion of farmland to subdivisions in the Rio Grande
Valley, are other factors that help explain the historic
decline of the New Mexico chile crop.
Farmers were reportedly poised to harvest the best crop in
recent memory during 2006, but inclement weather intervened
and wreaked special havoc with the red chile crop in some
areas. According to Larry Bustillo of the United States
Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural
Statistics Service, New Mexico chile harvest numbers for
the 2006 season should be available by early spring.
Sources: Proceso/Apro, February 9, 2007. Article by
Patricia Davila Valero. New Mexico Department of
Agriculture website: http://nmdaweb.nmsu.edu
Crosswinds (Albuquerque), January 20-27, 2005. Article by
Marjorie Lilly.
Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico