Tholen – With five blueberry varieties, the Sekoya® program now covers cultivation in 18 countries worldwide on an area of 10,000 hectares in zero and low chill cultivation on the one hand and mid and high chill on the other. “We would like to introduce a variety in the late low chill segment for cultivation in, among others, the north of Morocco and Huelva for this period of the year. This will ensure us of Sekoya berries of consistent quality 52 weeks a year. Next week we will look at the selections and then the final introduction will not take long,” says Value Chain & Retail Manager Hans Liekens.
Hans Liekens and Anja Grueterich from Sekoya
And the need for consistent quality is great, according to the Belgian, who previously worked for Hessing and Chiquita. “Just last week I bought a container of Spanish blueberries in the supermarket. You pay serious money for them, but I had to throw half away. In my opinion, that is unacceptable in 2024. There is enough quality fruit available to supply the consumer. The market could grow much faster if we all supplied the market with good quality and consistent fruit.” According to the Value Chain and Retail Manager, supermarkets are also increasingly realizing this. “Following the example of the United Kingdom, more and more European supermarkets are working with positive and negative lists of the varieties they do and do not want to sell. This will have a significant impact on the market.”
According to Hans, the Spanish and Moroccan season went well. “You see that in Spain, in addition to the cultivation in Huelva, more and more Sekoya berries are also being planted in other regions such as Valencia and La Mancha. The colder nights there are in fact ideal for the blueberries and this also shifts the harvest period, so that the seasons are increasingly connecting seamlessly. Previously we had more peaks in supply and we often had a quieter period after the Spanish season, but now we can seamlessly switch to Serbian berries. We also saw many satisfied faces in Morocco the growers had excellent quality fruit this season.”
No brainer
With the varieties Sekoya Crunch, Grande and Fiesta, Sekoya is again preparing for the high chill season, which runs roughly from the beginning of July to September. “This actually concerns all berries in the line above Paris and therefore from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom, Ukraine and Romania, but these high chill varieties are also grown in Chile. Sekoya is especially suitable for cultivation in France and its home country Belgium. looking for growers for the variety program. “I was almost planning to grow them myself, but it seems like an unexplored place to grow high-quality blueberries. Our varieties were developed in Oregon, where the climate is similar to France and Belgium. You actually don’t even have to test the varieties. The whole picture is a no-brainer. The consumers are there, but now the growers remain,” says Hans.
Robust varieties
“In addition to all the advantages of the firmness, large size, taste, appearance and shelf life of the Sekoya berries, they also appear to be more robust against extreme weather conditions, whether drought or rain. Our Peruvian growers indicated that Despite the challenges with El Niño, the damage suffered by the old varieties was approximately 30%, while the damage of the old varieties was also above 50%. In the South African Cape, the Sekoya-Pop also appeared to withstand the heavy rain much better last season.” , says Hans. “This shows how urgently the introduction of the new varieties is. As far as the high chill growing areas are concerned, the cultivation is even more urgently in need of variety replacement. More and more supermarkets are putting old varieties on the negative list because they are too soft and rot or mold too quickly. and are therefore no longer allowed to end up in the supermarket.”
“We are working hard on category management to further categorize the applications of blueberries. Consider a separate category for breakfast, for snacks and for the organic range. This is much better for products such as tomatoes, carrots and potatoes. So we have a lot of work to do to help consumers offer the right berry for the right time!”
For more information:
Hans Liekens
Sekoya
Tel: +32 477 531 529
[email protected]
www.sekoyafruit.com
