On the Christmas of the covid-19 , Christmas Eve cannot be missed for Mexican families. At least the plant. The colors and the mere presence of this flower of pre-Hispanic heritage and known throughout the world represent the hope of a 2021 with better news.
“It is a flower that usually does not exist during the year, it does not grow, and it does give the Christmas touch every year with the color red,” Verónica Castilla explained to Efe on Monday, with a handful of recently purchased Nochuebuena plants.
Castilla is one of the Mexican women who, despite the covid-19 pandemic , does not renounce the holiday or its Christmas Eve, which the Aztecs already used in celebrations and rituals, now distributed by millions of houses to “give a Christmas touch “.
The sale of poinsettias in December is one of the most important of the year for thousands of producers in the country, who for this season had prepared more than 16 million plants, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture. However, farmers, often also sellers of their own crops, admit that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, sales are not as good as they expected.
“The sale of poinsettias is not like what we expected, last year,” explained Rafael Moreno, a young producer from Michoacán who sells with his family in the Palacio de la Flor market , south of the city. Moreno revealed that this year they do not fill “not even a third” the truck for the transfers of the flower from the field to the point of sale, because of the few sales.
“We are going to lose a lot (harvest) because like the cempasúchil , which has just passed, some sowed 200,000 and they were left with half. That is the profit, we have nothing left,” lamented the farmer.
The production process of poinsettias, explained the producer and merchant Guadalupe Reyes, lasts “eight months” and its most intense season of sale ranges from the beginning of December to the middle of the month, when most families have already adored their homes.
“The process of this plant consists of maintaining it for eight months, so we are waiting for these sales with a crazy desire that they will sell like hot cakes,” he acknowledged from his position.
Reyes’ production this year is 4,000 or 5,000, the number he hopes to sell despite a poor start, since it is an accessible product for all budgets. “I think so (everyone) can have a plant, because the costs vary from 15 pesos to 120 pesos,” he said.
