Colombia, a diverse country in terms of geography and climate, has historically been affected by climate phenomena such as El Niño. In 2024, this natural phenomenon has once again focused attention due to its significant impacts in various regions of the country. It is undoubtedly a concern for chili crops.
The actual situation
This year, Colombia faces one of the most pronounced El Niño events in recent times. This climatic phenomenon, characterized by the anomalous warming of the waters of the Pacific Ocean, has unleashed a series of consequences that affect both urban and rural areas of the country.
One of the main repercussions of El Niño in Colombia is the decrease in rainfall, which leads to prolonged droughts in regions such as La Guajira, Santander, and some areas of the Coffee Region. These droughts affect the availability of water for human and agricultural consumption.
On the other hand, in some regions of the country, El Niño has caused a sudden increase in rainfall, triggering floods and landslides. This has resulted in the impact of crops, especially in areas such as the Caribbean Coast and the Colombian Pacific region.
Has product availability affected us?
Our availability of chili pepper has not been affected by this phenomenon. Our production scheme has several advantages that allow us to mitigate the risks that the weather presents to us at any time of the year. First of all, our chili is not planted in a specific area of the country. In our strategy to expand our habanero, cayenne, jalapeño and tabasco growing areas, we have been reaching many regions of the country for several months. We no longer depend, like a few years ago, only on the climate of a particular region. If there is a very affected area, we will always have productive chili crops in other areas of the country that have not been so affected.
On the other hand, the agricultural practices that we encourage through technicians are small steps towards climate resilience. We always encourage our farmers to use drip irrigation. This is without a doubt the most efficient way to irrigate a chili crop. On the other hand, we always seek to ensure that the cultivated area is no larger than 3 hectares, which encourages agricultural diversification. In many cases, we encourage crops in association with other crops, this being a very useful practice for strengthening the soil. All these mitigation and resilience measures against the effects of climate change.
We have chili!
This is not the first time we have faced this phenomenon. Years of experience in growing chili peppers have led us to implement a series of measures that have proven to be effective in having product available despite climatic adversities. For this reason, we have product available for all our customers!
