The Invaluable Snow Pea: Queen of the Night in Guatemala

The snow pea business has seen difficult times during the last years, and it is believed that its price will drop all the way to Q1.50, far from the Q7 it reached in 1994.

During the last few months, the United States have raised objections to Guatemalan shipments for two reasons: the presence of larvae of the minador fly, and the detection of residues of the pesticides clorotalomil and metamidofos, in levels higher than those authorized by the FDA.

When U.S. health authorities indicated there was a high presence of larvae, the shipments were subjected to restrictions and were fumigated every time they arrived at Florida. Fumigation causes a loss of at least 30% of the product, due to the hot air used for spraying. Not only did the product go bad, but also the exporter had to absorb the fumigation cost ($500), thus losing millions of dollars.

Guatemalan exporters emptied thousands of boxes of snow peas in front of the U.S. embassy, as a sign of protest. They argued they were being unfairly discriminated against, and brought to light an investigation that had been conducted at University of Arizona, which established that the plague of the minador fly was the same in the U.S. and in Guatemala, and that this pest was already present in the U.S. when Guatemalan snow pea shipments were denied entry.

During the second trimester of this year, the crisis got worse. However, the FDA finally dropped the charges and stopped fumigating, almost one year after the problem started.

Guatemalan exporter's strategy required operating at a loss. But the alternative to that was to lose their share of the U.S. market, where many other countries were eager to come in.

The smaller snow pea producers suffered huge financial losses. Thus, although the snow pea market is attractive because the return of investment is immediate, they stopped growing snow peas and turned to other crops instead. This fact illustrates an important reality. When a small farmer abandons traditional crops and grows others that have international demand, he becomes dependent on the big exporters to recover what he invested.

Exporters face small competitors, who have a higher risk of sending low quality products with more probability of being rejected by the FDA. Unfortunately, everyone pays, for the sanctions are applied to "all Guatemalan exporters", with no exceptions.

The road has not been smooth for the snow pea business. Even when the government and Gexpront insist on using it as a model crop.