Avocado exports new source of "green gold" for Mexicans

URUAPAN, Mexico — Exports of avocados from the state of Michoacán, the top source of the fruit, have risen fivefold since 2004, and many Mexican farmers have found that exporting the crop is lucrative enough under the North American Free Trade Agreement that they don't need to migrate north to earn a living.

Known here as "green gold," the avocado has taken on political importance as President Felipe Calderón faces renewed criticism of NAFTA's role in undermining the livelihoods of farmers.

The once-exotic fruit, meanwhile, has become a mainstream diet item on the U.S. side of the border. That will be clear Sunday when American sports fans will consume an estimated 25,000 tons of avocado as they watch the Super Bowl with bowls of guacamole at the ready — the biggest day for avocado consumption all year.

And in a final twist of globalization, industry officials say it is transplanted Mexicans in the U.S. who are fueling that booming avocado consumption and keeping export prices high back in their homeland.

This rugged section of western Michoacán is avocado country, bustling with roadside stands selling bushels of the fruit. On a side street in Uruapan, someone has painted a mural of pre-Columbian figures brandishing avocado halves like shields.

After a bruising fight as part of the NAFTA debate, the U.S. has gradually let avocados enter its market. U.S. officials said the Mexican avocado presented health risks, forcing Mexico to implement a system of preventing disease caused by fruit flies and other pests. The final barriers fell last year when Mexican avocados could enter California, the top U.S. producer and consumer.

Although three-quarters of Mexico's avocados remain for domestic consumption, farmers have gravitated to the high prices offered in the U.S. wholesale market, now about $1 per pound, about 50 percent higher than what they can get in Mexico.

Michoacán exported about 200,000 tons of avocados last year, bringing in about $500 million. More than 5,200 orchards in Michoacán are certified to export the fruit, up from only 61 just a decade ago.

The 2007 market was especially lucrative for Mexico because cold snaps in California and Chile damaged the crops of its main rivals.

The avocado boom comes at a time of discontent after NAFTA forced Mexico to remove its final barriers on corn and other key crops as of Jan. 1. Opposition lawmakers are urging Calderón to renegotiate the treaty.

After running a surplus just after NAFTA's implementation in 1994, Mexico has faced agriculture-trade deficits with the U.S. that top $1 billion annually.

In his New Year's address, Calderón cited avocado exports as one bit of proof that NAFTA, "in general, has been beneficial for Mexicans."

The government is also running radio spots with avocado farmers praising NAFTA. One spot quotes farmer Benito Camacho of Uruapan saying that, thanks to NAFTA, "there are low-income producers who now have a tractor, that now we have our little pickup truck."

Agriculture officials say the avocado is rare because it is a niche product — Mexico's only serious competitors are the U.S. and Chile — that is developing mainstream appeal. Likewise, the crop can grow on hilly terrain and does not generally require irrigation.

And while Mexican corn farmers have suffered from a technology gap with the U.S., picking avocados is labor-intensive. At Mendoza's orchard, an army of workers snatched fruit off trees with pickers that resembled elongated lacrosse sticks.

Jose Luis Obregon, managing director of the California-based Hass Avocado Board, the trade group that promotes the most popular type of avocado, says there is a direct correlation between a U.S. state's avocado consumption and its Mexican population.

Obregon noted that overall and per capita avocado consumption in the U.S. has doubled in the past seven years as the population of people of Mexican descent has increased.

"The new generation, they are born and raised on avocados," he said.