Marketing and sales development of the 'Rojo Brillante' cultivar in eastern Spain
A. Del Pino, M. Miranda
Acta Horticulturae 996: 467-472.
2013
บทคัดย่อ
The persimmon market in Spain and Europe has increased exponentially over the last ten years. One of the main reasons for this development has been the introduction of the ‘Rojo Brillante’ cultivar. The establishment of this cultivar in Eastern Spain has revolutionised awareness of the persimmon in different European countries, has grown the market and has reached consumers that had previously never heard of this fruit. These changes have been accompanied by profitable results for farmers, which are an exception in the current market situation in Europe, and have led to rapid increases in the number and size of production areas. The success of the product on the market is due to the natural characteristics of the cultivar, such as the quality of its fruit, its size and plant yield, as well as the work carried out to develop and adapt production and postharvest technologies to the cultivar’s specific needs. This paper describes this technological and marketing evolution from the initial discovery of the cultivar around fifty years ago. It describes the production systems applied to developing the crop in our region, as well as the introduction and development of postharvest technologies to extending the market and also sets out the marketing and sales strategies used to introduce the fruit to markets where the persimmon was completely unknown. Finally, we will put forward future needs which will be required to maintain market growth whilst ensuring continued profitability for farmers, enhancing preservation and extending shelf-life, use and recovery of sub-products, the introduction and development of new cultivars to create new market segments, and new sales approaches to reach new consumers in the future.