The environment of the Llano en Llamas region has been very conducive to table grape plantations in the Jalisco countryside. In five years, 700 hectares of plantations have been developed.
As an example of this, 700 hectares of vines have already been established in the municipalities of Tolimán and Tuxcacuesco, generating significant economic and employment benefits.
This was explained by the head of the office of the Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER Jalisco), Salvador Álvarez García, who said that this project of grape plantations for the export market is another example of the economic dynamism that exists in various regions of the state territory, which contributes to the productive diversification of the state agri-food sector.
He stressed that according to testimonies from the company that produces the grapes, the initial expectation of the planned investment in this product has been exceeded
In this regard, the founding partner of Grupo Molina, the Sonoran company promoting this project, Marco Antonio Molina Rodríguez, said that the vineyard plantations began five years ago with 28 hectares, which has risen to 700 hectares, by virtue of the good results that have been obtained. He recalled that originally the project contemplated 500 hectares.
He mentioned that of the 700 hectares established, 517 are in production, which in this year's season has already resulted in a harvest of close to a million boxes, each weighing 8.2 kilograms.
Molina Rodríguez also highlighted that the 700 hectares already cultivated will contribute annually a harvest of one million 400 thousand boxes, which will have an impact of an important regional economic spill, since a harvest of this size represents an injection of 310 million pesos in costs of production.
Among the advantages of this project, he emphasized that this region of Jalisco is the only part of the world to have fresh table grapes at this time of year, which brings a very important marketing window, especially in the month of April. He argued that there will be frozen table grapes in other countries, but fresh grapes only in this region.
Likewise, he warned that several cutting-edge technological instruments are taken into account in the production of these grapes, from the same varieties planted and the pruning of the vines, to the integrated management of pests and diseases, the fertilization system, and drip irrigation for optimization of water use, all in order to give a sustainable approach to the project.
The grapes that have been planted are Green Seedless Grapes, Red Seedless Grapes, special varieties such as Sweet Sapphire and Cotton Candy, the latter with a very special flavor, as mentioned by its name "cotton candy." These varieties are patented in Spain, Israel, and the United States.