Abstract

MATEUS C, Diana; PULIDO C, Xiomara; GUTIERREZ, Albert  and  ORDUZ-RODRIGUEZ, Javier O. Economic evaluation of citrus fruit grown in the foothills of the Meta department for 12 years. Orinoquia [online]. 2010, vol.14, n.1, pp.16-26. ISSN 0121-3709.

An economic analysis of twelve years of production costs and income is presented for well drained high terrace soils of the piedmont of Meta department on orchards 12 years of Minneola tangelo, Valencia orange, Arrayana tangerine for 8 years of Tahiti lime (due to premature death of plants by citrus tristeza virus). The plants were established in 1997 in the La Libertad research center of Corpoica and followed the recommendations developed by Corpoica for citrus crops. The information is presented per hectare of orchard averaging 10 ha of orange, 5 ha of tangerine and tangelo and 2 ha of lime. The values are the average prices per kg of fruit sold in the tree and input the year 2009 (after obtaining the information). For orange, tangerine and lime was assigned the same capital to be established and cultivated, while the tangelo expenses were less due to a lower plant population per ha, but with the same amount of inputs to plant as other crops. The best production and profitability was for Valencia orange with an internal rate of return (IRR) of 34.31 %, followed by the Tahiti lime (8 years of cultivation), Minneola tangelo and Arrayana tangerine with an IRR of 30.93, 17.08, and 13.88 % respectively. With a net present value (NPV) of 12 % Valencia oranges made a net profit of $ 15,800,000 per ha and a benefit-cost ratio (BC) of 3.23. The NPV for Tahiti lime, the Minneola tangelo and Arrayana tangerine was $ 4,960,000 , 3.2 million and 1.05 million, while the BC ratio was: 2.04, 1.36% and 1.11% respectively. The Tahiti lime had a lower cumulative production. It is necessary to continue researching on patterns, ecophysiology, plant health and mineral nutrition in order to understand the potential performance of each citrus crop conditions studied in the foothills of Meta.

Keywords : Citrus tropical foothills of the Meta; IRR; NPV; benefit-cost ratio.

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