As a result of the articulated work between the public and private sectors, in the last two years the Chaco became the Argentine province that produces more organic honey.

This was achieved after a thorough process that allowed the certification of the product that was already exported to Germany and France, and which is preparing a new shipment that will be coming soon.

The work was carried out by the Agencia de Cooperación para el Desarrollo ACERCA, in coordination with the network of beekeeping organizations and the Ministry of Production and the endorsement of the certifier Organización Internacional Agropecuaria (OIA) , having as a commercial ally for export to ‘Mieles del Chaco’, by Grúas San Blas.

LEADING PROVINCE

In this sense, the results have been positive, since currently approximately 25% of the honey produced in the province is certified as organic. This in turn means that Chaco leads this type of production in the country with a 37% share.

Chaco organic honey is sold to the European Union (although it is also certified to export to the United States) and in the 2019/20 campaign (which is now being collected to be sold) 192,500 kilograms (641 drums) were already obtained .

The highest concentration of production of this type (70%) comes from the General Güemes department of the towns of El Sauzalito (El Tartagal and Pozo del Gato), Miraflores and Juan José Castelli, although producers of Tres Isletas are also under certification, Villa Ángela, General San Martín and Margarita Belén. On this occasion, the drums that will be exported come from Miraflores, Tartagal, El Sauzalito, Pozo del Gato, Juan José Castelli, Wichí El Pintado, Villa Ángela, San Martín and Margarita Belén.

ORGANIC HONEYS

Organic Chaco honeys are a 100% natural product from apiaries, where environmental conditions allow to produce this variant of the food in its organic form of Premium quality. The greatest amount of production comes from the Impenetrable, which thanks to its great variety of vegetation, since there are no agricultural activities, so that agrochemicals that affect production do not circulate, allows you to harvest naturally organic honey, a situation from which it arises the possibility of certifying.

THE CERTIFICATION

The certification process for the European Union has a transition period of 2 years during which producers must comply with the regulations corresponding to the organic production protocol of that market. The organic producer opinion is issued by the certifier, with the supervision of Senasa.

For this, the product must be processed in a honey extraction room enabled by Senasa, with certification for the processing of organic products. Then the packaged honey is transferred to the company for the consolidation of the containers or for homogenization and subsequent export, depending on the demand of the buyer.

The certification process is mainly based on a thorough traceability system that allows the consumer to know the characteristics of the environment in which the hives, the practices of the producer and any other processing that has been done to the product.

THE PROJECTION

For the next few months, the number of kilograms of certified organic honey is expected to increase, which will allow the province to continue positioning itself on the world map of suppliers of ‘green’ Premium products, something that consumers increasingly demand.

Source: Diario Norte