Annona Species Monograph.pdf - Crops for the Future

Chapter 12. Economic Information
12.1 Economics of production
12.1.1 Production cost, price and income
The cultivation of cherimoya in Latin America is reputed to have a
comparative advantage over other locations, especially considering the cost
of production (Van Damme and Scheldeman, 1999). However, these authors
do not list the costs for one hectare of cherimoya cultivation using standard
production factors, such as labour, mechanization, fertilizers, transport etc.
On the other hand, prices of cherimoya have been listed by various authors,
which allows the estimation of supposed income for cherimoya growers.
In Spain, cherimoya production has an average yield of 11.8 t/ha during the
normal harvest period (September to November). According to Requena
(1998), the mean price of cherimoya in 1996 was about 200 pesetas/kg of
fruit (at that time US$ 1.00 = pesetas 131.21; hence, the fruit was worth US$
1.52/kg). From this we can conclude that a cherimoya grower in Spain could
expect a gross farm gate income of US$ 17,900 per hectare in 1996.
However, 15% of this would be subtracted due to fruit perishability between
harvest and market, leaving a gross income of US$ 15,200.
The current cost of establishing one hectare of cherimoya in Spain, with a
density of 357 trees/ha, is US$ 8,000-8,300 (Hermoso González, J.M., La
Mayora Experimental Station, Spain, personal communication , 2004). This
price does not include the price of land, which is frequently very expensive in
the traditional growing areas of southern Spain. At present, land prices vary
from US$ 185,000 to 190,000/ha and the costs of producing 12-14 t/ha are
currently about US$ 5,600-6,000/ha.
Logically, the price of cherimoya depends on a lot of factors, such as size and
quality of the fruit, place of sale and harvest date. The price of a good
cherimoya fruit in Spain, for instance, has ranged between US$ 0.20 and
1.20/kg in the last few years, depending on the fruit size and harvest date.
During the 2003 Christmas season, a good quality fruit was sold for US$
1.50-1.70/kg (Dr. J.M. Hermoso González, personal communication , 2004).
In Belgium, cherimoya fruits imported from Spain are sold for around US$
5.00/kg in supermarkets, while in Ecuador they are sold for less than a US$
1.00/kg (Scheldeman, X., personal communication , 2004). In Peru, the price
of cherimoya fruit varied from US$ 1.00-2.00/kg in 1991 (Tijero, 1992) and
from US$ 3.00 to 5.00/kg FOB for export in 1996 (INIA, 1997).
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