Canadian grown pulse crops are so popular in some South American countries that they have caused producers there to switch to other crops.
And there is room to build the existing market and add new crops such as chickpeas, said Gildardo Silva, a pulse marketer with Walker Seeds of Star City, Sask.
Silva told the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers annual meeting recently that the impressive growth in Canada’s exports of pulse crops to Mexico and South America can be attributed to more open markets and the prairie farmer’s natural production advantage.
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“The tariff barriers have been pulled down so it makes it very affordable for people to bring in these products,” Silva said.
“In Canada you have the land, the water resources, the right cycle and so you are beating other countries like Mexico and are taking over their markets.”
When Latin Americans buy lentils, they buy from Canada, which supplies 94 percent of the lentils Mexico buys, all of the lentils Colombia buys and 97 percent of what Chile buys.
Mexico purchases about half of its dry peas imports from Canada, Colombia about two-thirds and Chile 44 percent.
Beans are the one crop that hasn’t seen a big increase, mainly because the Latin countries still see beans as a national priority and protect their domestic growers, said Silva.
He said many Latin Americans have expanded pulses in their diet. In the past, pulse crops were mainly consumed around Easter, but they have become a year-round dish.
“There seems to be a better consciousness of the nutritional value of pulses. A lot of people now consider the fibre and protein intake,” Silva said.
Peas and lentils tend to be more popular with urban people and as the cities of Mexico and South America grow, so do the number of lentil and pea consumers.
“And although producers don’t like hearing this, the price has become so affordable, such a cheap source of fibre and protein … for markets like Latin America it is very attractive.”
With limited incomes, Latin shoppers watch their food dollars carefully and Silva believes there is little likeli-hood that consumers there will be willing to pay more for imported peas and lentils.
Mexico now supplies a lot of chickpeas to Latin America and is considered a good quality producer. But buyers are interested in the growing acreage of the crop in Canada, hoping it will mean a source of lower price, quality supply.
“Chickpeas will grow in consumption. They are consumed now, but it is an expensive item. From the surveys I do on the street, a lot of people say they like chickpeas but it is a pretty expensive item. It’s 10 pesos a kilo compared to 4.5 pesos a kilo of lentils. That’s a big difference,” he said.
They also want a big chickpea, about 10 millimetres in diameter, two or three millimetres bigger than what Canada generally produces. They want varieties that cook fast and don’t shed their skin, and they also want good color.
