Salta producer Santiago de San Román analyzes the opportunities of mung bean, a crop with great potential for the NOA [Northwestern Argentina]

Salta is a major productive hub. With its challenges and benefits, it has managed to fully establish itself on the national productive map in recent years, among other things because a powerful legume hub has exponentially flourished there. The province far and away leads the productive and export ranking for beans and chickpeas. Santiago de San Román, owner of Familia Crestón company, is a producer and exporter of legumes with extensive experience in NOA. His diagnosis of the sector's present and future is accurate: "Legumes have become a very interesting option in NOA. Today it is an option, but a very tight one. There is no margin for error," he clarified. As happens in almost all agricultural activities in Argentina, the Excel spreadsheet is scrutinized closely. "All our costs have increased compared to a year or two ago. Although there are alternatives within legumes, freight has become a significant element in the cost equation," Santiago explains. But even with this ...