Characteristics of commercialization of eggplant fruits in the main cities of consumption in Colombia

Características de la comercialización de los frutos de berenjena en las principales ciudades de consumo en Colombia

The present study was carried out in order to know the quality requirements for the commercialization and consumption of eggplant fruits in the main cities in Colombia. For this, semi-structured surveys were carried out that considered aspects of the commercialization, market, use, consumption, and quality of the fruits concerning the preferences of the fruit marketers and restaurants of Arab and Syrian-Lebanese food. Descriptive statistics, principal component, and multiple correspondences analysis were performed. The results made it possible to identify the characteristics of the traders, the origin of the fruits, prices, presentations, destination markets, and the most relevant aspects associated with the extrinsic quality of the fruit. It was found that, although there is a market for all types of fruits, in the cities of the interior of the country, black, shiny, firm, and shaped fruits are preferred, while in the Caribbean region, lilac or purple fruits longer than wide, bulbshaped fruits are preferred. The results allowed us to conclude that the quality aspects that determine most purche decisions in restaurants are the size, firmness, shape, and brightness of the fruits, while in marketplaces and supply centers, color, size, and health of the fruits are more determinant. It is recommended that genetic improvement programs in the country should be oriented to obtain varieties with colors, shape, and size according to the preferences of the regional and local market, highlighting the importance of obtaining fruits with greater firmness to improve shelf life.

1. Aguilar, S. (2005). Fórmulas para el cálculo de la muestra en investigaciones de salud. Salud en Tabasco 11(1-2):333-338. Disponible en https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/487/48711206.pdf
2. Agronet. (2017). Area sembrada y área cosechada del cultivo de berenjena. Agronet. https://www.agronet.gov.co/Documents/38-BERENJENA_2017.pdf
3. Aramendis, H., Cardona, C., & Jarma, Alfredo, Espitia, M. (2008). El cultivo de la berenjena (Solanum melonjena L.) (Produmedios (ed.)). Universidad de Córdoba.
4. Cadena Torres, J., Barros Gomez, G., Aramendis Tatis, H., & Ibañez, K. (2011). C015 y C029 Nuevas variedades de berenjena para la Región Caribe (p. 32). Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria-Corpoica. https://repository.agrosavia.co/handle/20.500.12324/13500
5. Cadena Torres, J., Gómez Barros, G., & Ibañez, K. I. (2011a). Selección de cultivares competitivos de berenjena para los mercados nacionales y de exportación, con adaptación a las condiciones del Caribe Colombiano: Resumen de resultados (Issue August). https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.28588.92806
6. Chen, H., Cao, S., Fang, X., Mu, H., Yang, H., Wang, X., Xu, Q., & Gao, H. (2015). Changes in fruit firmness, cell wall composition and cell wall degrading enzymes in postharvest blueberries during storage. Scientia Horticulturae, 188, 44–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2015.03.018
7. Correa, E., Araméndiz Tatis, H., Azeredo, L., Pombo, C., & Cardona Ayala, C. E. (2010). Tipificación de comercializadores de berenjena en zonas productoras del Caribe Colombiano. Temas Agrarios, 15(2), 46. https://doi.org/10.21897/rta.v15i2.679
8. García, E., Hernández, E., Paula, C. De, & Aramendiz, H. (2003). Caracterización bromatológica de la berenjena (Solanum melongena L.) en el departamento de Córdoba. Temas Agrarios 8(1): 27–32.
9. Gisbert C., Prohens J., Raigon M.D., Stommel J.R., Nuez F. (2011) Eggplant relatives as sources of variation for developing new rootstocks: effects of grafting on eggplant yield and fruit apparent quality and composition. Scientia Horticulturae, 128, 14–22.
10. Gómez-Correa, J.; Leon-Pacheco, R.; Cadena-Torres, J.; Cantero-Rivero, J.; Correa-Alvarez, E.; Espinosa-Carvajal, M.; Ibañez-Miranda, K.; De La Ossa-Saibis, V.; Perez-Canteros, S., Romero-Ferrer, J. (2019). Fenotipos estables de berenjena (Solanum melongena L .) para la región Caribe colombiana. In M. Castellanos, ML; Bastidas (Ed.), I Congreso Internacional: Gestión frente al Cambio Climático. (Issue May, pp. 233–238).
11. Hernández, C. E., & Carpio, N. (2019). Introducción a los tipos de muestreo. ALERTA Revista Científica Del Instituto Nacional de Salud, 2(1), 75–79. https://doi.org/10.5377/alerta.v2i1.7535
12. Martínez Reina, A. M., Tordecilla Zumaqué, L., Rodríguez Pinto, M. D. V., & Grandett Martínez, L. M. (2019). Análisis de las preferencias del consumidor por las hortalizas frescas en el Caribe colombiano. Temas Agrarios, 24(2), 119–128. https://doi.org/10.21897/rta.v24i2.2070
13. Maya Ambía, C. J. (2004). Características de la competencia en el mercado hortícola estadounidense: el caso de la berenjena mexicana. Estudios Sociales, XII(24), 8–53.
14. Prohens, J., Whitaker, B. D., Plazas, M., Vilanova, S., Hurtado, M., Blasco, M., Gramazio, P., & Stommel, J. R. (2013). Genetic diversity in morphological characters and phenolic acids content resulting from an interspecific cross between eggplant, Solanum melongena, and its wild ancestor (S. incanum). Annals of Applied Biology, 162(2), 242–257. https://doi.org/10.1111/aab.12017
15. Plazas, M., Andújar, I., Vilanova, S., Hurtado, M., Gramazio, P., Herraiz, F. J., & Prohens, J. (2013). Breeding for Chlorogenic Acid Content in Eggplant: Interest and Prospects. Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca, 41(1), 26–35. https://doi.org/10.15835/nbha4119036
16. Tapia, L. M. (2019). Diseño de la cadena de suministro agroalimentaria de la berenjena en córdoba-Colombia mediante la integración del modelo SCOR y el enfoque de optimización. In Tesis de grado, MS ingeniería, U. Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar, Facultad de Ingenierías.
17. Villalobos Monge, A. (2010). Aspectos de demanda para 41 productos hortícolas en la Zona Sur de Costa Rica. Tecnología En Marcha, 23(2), 3–13. https://revistas.tec.ac.cr/index.php/tec_marcha/article/view/61/60