Fine lemon increases the harvest by 15% in the province of Alicante, while it decreases in orange and tangerine.

agriculture union, The cool and humid weather of May and June It has made the fruit develop well and the lemons are calibrated above the average of recent years for this date. This is a production that the market can absorb and, as a principle, optimism.

Therefore, after the harvest drops to a global volume 5.8 million tons of oranges, tangerines and lemons (-17.7%) across SpainAccording to the Ministry of Agriculture, Asaja Alicante, which is the lowest in recent decades, predicts a slight improvement in lemon production this year, but not orange or tangerinefor climatic reasons that alter flowering.

However, there is a key factor that could hinder the citrus campaign and that is the lack of water security in the Levante countryside due to uncertainty over the availability of sufficient quality and quantity of water.

Tagus-Segura transfer

“This situation promoted by ajo-Seugura Unjust and arbitrary decisions of the Ministry of Ecological Transition Led by Teresa Ribera, José Vicente Andreu, president of Asaja Alicante and organic citrus producer from Vega Baja, can influence the size of the fruit, which is a basic requirement to be able to sell it and thus get a good campaign”, explains.

“The biggest concern of citrus growers is that water from the Tajo-Segura Transfer will only affect those from Levante and not from other countries. manufacturers and competitorsthis will put us at a disadvantage and cause us to face an increase in production costs.”

Likewise, the agribusiness thinks that the organic citrus campaign will be worse than the previous one for two main reasons: On the one hand, farms giving up certification, on the other hand. ecological They do not have enough capital and their orchards are undernourished, in many cases this clearly leads to a decrease in production.

Lemon

There are already very fine lemons this year, so from September onwards there will be enough supply to meet demand. In this sense, the entity calculates an approximate increase. 15% of Poodle lemon production Compared to the previous season in Alicante, the main reason is good fruit set. Although Verna variety an improvement is also expected, it will not be that obvious.

Only in 2022-2023 800,000 tons of lemons. For the participant, the agriculture organization predicts it will exceed 950,000 tons, and points out that if collection is delayed, it could exceed a million “as long as we have water.” The lemon tree is a plant that adapts moderately well to climatic changes and high temperatures, but is not adapted to poor quality, salty or high boron water as in desalinated water.

Definitely the most important product Segura basinLemon is the crop that will be most affected. water stress It is the one that will suffer the most from the poor quality of the waters caused by the government’s decisions.

In this campaign, Asaja Alicante announces that she will focus her efforts on monitoring unfair business practices that have unfortunately become widespread despite being banned by the US. Food Chain Act.

An example of this is the destruction of value, where large operators controlling the market always increase the percentage of destruction previously specified in the contract, which is normally around 3-5% of the total harvest.

The association claims that companies throw away up to 60 percent of the harvest as waste. citrus industry they actually sell it on the international market as a fresh second-hand product. As Asaja-Alicante describes, this abuse also violates the regulations of the European Union. EU Regulation 543/2011and leaves the farmer in a situation of absolute vulnerability in terms of bargaining power and economic value.

Orange

Asaja Alicante confirms that with oranges the situation is a priori more unfavorable than with lemons, due to the climatic conditions at the turn of the century. spring very conditions the crop: extreme temperatures in the province MarchWith peak temperatures exceeding 30 degrees, a bloom developed, but weak. On the other hand, May surprised us with the drop in temperature and abundant rainfall that made the trees pretend it was spring, so this time they were forced to sprout and bloom again.

As a result of this change in flowering, the agribusiness predicts a reduction in production and worse fruit quality that would be most suitable for the juice industry. cost effectiveness farmer’s

Many of these panoramas citrus growers From Vega Baja, which regretted low mid-season orange cultivars on its trees, especially Lane Late and Powell cultivars. As for the prices, the variety powellBeginning the harvest in March, it recorded good prices at the source. “Overall, we are facing an even shorter harvest of oranges than we recently finished, which was already very scarce,” Asaja complains.

mandarin

Autumn clementines are basically grown Valencian Communityand in recent years they have been highly conditioned by pests like these. cotonet from south africa and the aging of fields. This year the plague is starting to come under more control and production is expected to start to recover somewhat, although the levels of previous years will not be reached.