June 22, 2009
Economic globalization and trade liberalization have wrought profound changes in New Mexico’s chile pepper industry. Competition from imported Mexican, Chinese and other chiles contributed greatly to the reduction of harvested chile acreage in the Land of Enchantment from about 34,500 acres in 1992 to slightly more than 11,000 in 2008.
While the downturn in chile production was most evident in the jalapeno and cayenne segments of the industry, foreign imports are also touching the emblematic New Mexican green chile. Like seeing a snowstorm in August, residents of Albuquerque can now behold freshly roasted green chile from outside the state in May-two full months ahead of the New Mexican harvest.
The same economic processes shaping the future of the New Mexican chile industry are jarring the homeland of the original source of chile grown in New Mexico-Mexico.
In San Marcos Texmulucan, a municipality located in the state of Puebla south of Mexico City, competition from China-grown “poblano” chiles is taking a toll on local producers, according to a farm industry representative
Sixto Palmares Vargas, spokesman for local chile growers, told a Mexican reporter that cheap Chinese chile imports have forced farmers to slash production of poblano chiles from 1,350 tons in 2001 to about 1,000 tons in 2009. In addition to harvesting fresh, plump poblanos, farmers in San Marcos Texmulucan produce dry forms of the pepper.
“Middle men mix poblano chile from Zacatecas with the Asian variety and a little bit of the (Puebla) criollo variety so they can sell it at half the cost of a kilo of poblano chile,” Palmares said.
A cultural icon of Puebla, poblano chiles are used to make the famous chiles en nogadas that are draped with pomegranates and other flavorings. The dish is a late-summer tradition in the Mexican state.
But Palmares said a lack of technological sophistication, resulting in annual yields of 6-8 tons per hectare, place Puebla farmers at a disadvantage in a globalized market.
Still, not all the news is bad from the Puebla pepper front, according to the grower representative. Palmares said farmers recently signed an agreement with the state branch of Canirac, a restaurant and food trade industry association, to supply 50 tons of poblano chiles every year for the preparation of chiles en nogadas. The deal netted farmers a preferential price of 13 pesos, or about one dollar, for each kilo of chile, as opposed to the going rate of 6-8 pesos per kilo.
Promoting local consumption is an important goal of farmers, Palmares said. In this spirit, he added, a poblano chile fair will be held August 29-30 in San Rafael Tlanalapan, Puebla.
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Additional source:
-- La Jornada, June 18, 2009. Article by Tania Damian Jimenez.
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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
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