Avocado industry in northern Valle del Cauca identifies operational risks thanks to Univalle research

A range of operational risks have been identified in the Hass avocado supply chain in the northern part of Colombia's Valle del Cauca region, thanks to a group of researchers from the Zarzal campus of the Universidad del Valle (Univalle).

In the last 15 years, this region has become an epicenter of avocado production: the municipality currently has a packing plant for avocado exports.

In 2021, Colombia had more than 4,000 Hass avocado producers, exporting around 99,000 tons of avocado, worth more than US$200 million dollars (800 billion Colombian pesos), according to statistics from the Colombian Ministry of Agriculture.

However, the avacado supply chain in the north of the Valle del Cauca is still very young and presents operational risks that affect production, transportation and packaging of the product for export.

Professor Vivian Lorena Chud Pantoja, researcher of the Business Management, Development, Society and Culture Research Group (GEDESC) of the Zarzal campus and professor of the Industrial Engineering Program, said that a major challenge for the new industry is to identify and mitigate the risks that exist in each link of the supply chain.

"Avocados must have rigorous standards to guarantee the quality of the fruit that is exported, therefore, the production and harvesting processes must be controlled, since there are risks that generate losses of the product and are of great impact," Professor Chud said, adding that the standards for exporting are also very high.

"If the product does not comply, it will be rejected by the consuming country, for example if there is a pest infection in a fruit, the consuming country may reject the entire container," Professor Chud explained.

Chud and his collaborators developed an internal call project endorsed by the Vice Rector's Office for Research, which made it possible to identify and prioritize risks, as well as to map risks in the Hass avocado production chain. In February 2022, a scientific article was published as a result of this research, entitled “Gestión de riesgos operacionales en cadenas de suministro agroalimentarias bajo un enfoque de manufactura esbelta” in the international scientific journal Información Tecnológica.

Image: Avocado supply chain packing line link. Credit: Chud et al./Información Tecnológica.

The Study

La Professor Chud said her team mapped the avocado value chain, analyzing the flow of the product step by step within the chain.

"We examined each of the links, from the producer, packaging, and transportation, and this allowed us to see product losses, waits or inventory, overproduction, waste, that is, all the elements that affect the chain from the lean manufacturing approach and relate them to operational risks," Professor Chud said.

The professor explained that after this mapping, growers can self-evaluate to reduce losses with better practices in their processes.

"We hope that with this information, growers can make a 'paradigm shift' for example, implement something simple like trainings and visual control that can tell them when to apply pesticides or other supplies, when to perform crop monitoring, among others," the professor stated, adding that it is not necessary to make large investments to improve practices and reduce losses.

Professor Andrés Mauricio Paredes, a professor at Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios and Universidad del Valle and co-author of the publication stated that they built with the work team the tool that allowed defining the highest priority operational risks for the Hass avocado supply chain.

"The article was written with the objective of disseminating the findings and that it can be used as input for future research in similar supply chains; the challenge now is to promote different studies in the field derived from this research," Professor Paredes said.

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Zarzal Campus of the Universidad del Valle (Univalle). Credit: Univalle

The Zarzal Campus

The Universidad del Valle began its activities at the Zarzal campus in 1986, providing its services to Zarzal and the northern areas of Valle del Cauca, Colombia including the municpalities Roldanillo, La Unión, La Victoria, Bolívar, el Dovio, Toro, Versalles and Obando.

"Each regional campus has its needs" explained Professor Chud, adding that since the Zarzal campus is based in an agricultural area, they focus on agriculture-related issues.

"There are several links in the avocado chain near Zarzal and from the headquarters there is a concern to relate with the different actors in the chain," said Professor Chud.

Photo: Professor Vivian Lorena Chud Pantoja, researcher of the Business Management, Development, Society and Culture Research Group (GEDESC) of the Zarzal Campus and professor of the Industrial Engineering Program. Credit: Univalle

Community Impact

Claudia Cecilia Peña Montoya, a professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Occidente and a co-author of the study committed to the analysis of the data and the design of improvement proposals, explained that the interaction between researchers, companies and community is important because it strengthens the capacities of all players.

"The challenges of transferring the knowledge contained in the article are oriented to the capacity of companies, associations and other entities in the sector to accept and adapt the guidelines for continuous improvement based on the research findings," Professor Peña said, adding that there are also opportunities to transfer this knowledge through the improvement proposals designed, since they are within the reach of the companies that make up the Hass avocado supply chain.

Sandra Isabel Acosta, the general manager of Corpoversalles (representing 42 avocado producers among other growers) explained that Univalle's research is aided by other initiatives to improve the avocado supply chain.

"With SENA we carry out constant training in the agronomic management of the crop, as well as in first aid, safe handling of agrochemicals and we have our own software for avocado cultivation, which is the result of the European Union - RED ADELCO project, through an INNPULSA project," manager Acosta said.

If you would like to contact the researchers or learn more about the projects, write to the Communications Office of the Faculty of Engineering: comunicaingenieria(at)correounivalle.edu.co.

Cover photo: Avocado is an agricultural product that is an increasingly important source of income for farmers in Colombia. Credit: luisfhm007 (licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.)