Provincial farming challenges

Figures that become more important when certain areas are analyzed, as in the case of southeast Spain, where it represents about 10% of GDP. In the province of Alicante, Vega Baja is the undisputed leader of the agricultural sector. Europe’s most productive and highest quality orchards. The GDP of agriculture in this region exceeds 6% and accounts for 53% of all provincial production, although it represents 26% of the hectares of useful agricultural land cultivated. The main product groups are: citrus (60.1%), vegetables (20.4%) and fruit trees (9.9%).

However, the provincial agriculture sector is facing major challenges to stay competitive in a context where water shortages, energy costs and rising prices of origin are reducing the food industry. In this sense, ASAJA Alicante has already warned that in the 2021 agricultural balance, the global economic value of agriculture in the province of Alicante has fallen by 11%, despite the slight overall improvement in prices of origin received by farmers compared to the previous two years. years. To be specific, agriculture is more than 522 million euros in 2020. €464 million in 2021. The cultivated area in the province remained stable compared to 2020 and totaled 130,363.

Improve and optimize resources

In this context, farmers are trying to minimize the major hurdles they face: the unprecedented increase in production costs and origin prices in agriculture. Some of the costs cited by the ASAJA Alicante study « increased cost of electricity (mainly needed to extract irrigation water) 270%; Fuel oil and fertilizers (+48%), water (+33%), greenhouse plastics (+46%) or seeds (+20%) used by tractors and other agricultural machinery increased by 73%». To this must be added the instability of the Tajo-Segura transfer.

To face all these challenges, both Generalitat Valenciana and the industry itself are taking measures to improve the management of their resources and reduce the costs associated with their operations, through investments in technology, innovation and the expansion of ecological agriculture. traditional one.

when it comes water resourcesConsell, inclusive policy planning The modernization of irrigation, reuse of treated water, desalination, commitment to new technologies and the use of transfers as a complement to water resources will enable hydrological planning to be realized with solutions and in a sustainable way. proposals to integrate climate change indicators. To achieve this, Consell has been working for years in three main areas: investment and assistance, supporting farmers’ incomes and supporting research projects at IVIA.

An example of these is a innovative photovoltaic pumping system For irrigation installed in a local well that allows 100% renewable irrigation without CO2 emissions, reducing energy costs by 60% and saving up to 30% in water consumption. Likewise, the Ministry of Agriculture, Environment, Climate Change and Rural Development encouraged wastewater reuse tasks in 2016, while withdrawing aid for irrigation modernization not called for by the previous government since 2011.

Promoting organic farming

For To increase the profitability of the sector, The regional government promotes among farmers the opportunity to differentiate productions and provide them with greater added value, by betting on organic, in line with its commitments to quality and sustainability, where Spain is already one of the largest producers in Europe.

It was started for Valencia Plan for Organic Farming (2016-2020) increased the growth of certified area by 81.2% and the growth of operators by 51.1% during this period. It has now launched the II Valencia Plan for Organic Farming (2021-2025) with a budget of more than €114.28 million compared to the investment of 78 million in the previous programme.

In the Valencian Community, 51% of the ecological area is concentrated in the province of Valencia in 2020, while Alicante (25.1%) and Castellón (23.8%) share the rest of the area almost equally. Despite this distribution, Alicante ecological production with estimated certificate 87,510 tons It provides higher efficiency in production.

Technology and digitalization

While there is still much to be done, another area that manufacturers are working on is commitment to technology. optimize processes and reduce costs through digitization. In this sense, there are already solutions for automation of irrigation systems, automatic harvesting, pest and disease control, as well as crop monitoring by drone and remote sensing. The goal is to seek solutions in technology that will help them work in an environment. more accurate, efficient and sustainable.

In particular, technologies for optimizing the areas of irrigation control, temperature, humidity, conductivity and personnel costs, and the inclusion of robots to automate tasks such as planting and harvesting will be among the most demanded in the coming years. To these should be added Intelligent systems that assist in making decisions for irrigation, fertilization, pest and disease control.