Spain: Good pomegranate campaign, difficult for cauliflowers

The Alicante-based cooperative Cambayas is finishing its Mollar pomegranate campaign and its cauliflower season is in full swing.

"It has been a good pomegranate campaign," states Susi Bonet, of Cambayas' marketing department. "We have been able to market the volume we had expected and sales have mostly been lively. At present, while the campaign is coming to an end, demand remains high. It is a fruit that is consumed all year round and which is growing, both in terms of demand and acreage."

With regard to cauliflower, the high autumn temperatures caused the production to concentrate in November and December, as has happened with the French production, so prices collapsed. "For now, prices remain low, but volumes are starting to decline and shortages are expected in the coming weeks, given the earlier start of the production process," she affirms.

In the coming months, the watermelon planting will be taking place in the fields of Elche and the Vega Baja, where many producers are considering whether to plant or not due to the risks posed by water shortages this year, given that restrictions on access to irrigation water have already been announced. For the same reason, growers are also studying whether or not to expand their pomegranate plantations.

"Our main concern, and that of the entire fruit and vegetable sector in the area, is the lack of water for the next summer fruit campaign, which may affect figs and watermelons, but also pomegranates next season," points out Susi Bonet. "Drought is not only affecting us, there is also lack of rainfall in the headwaters of the Tagus, so water availability is limited and increasingly expensive."

Faced with this threat, Susi states that "we feel that the government has not yet proposed a clear solution. The desalination projects have remained on paper, as there are very few in operation and, besides being very expensive, they do not even come close to meeting the area's irrigation needs. We believe that the solution may be a water transfer from the Ebro, the largest river in Spain and whose water ends up in the sea."

You can visit Cambayas at the next edition of Fruit Logistica, in Berlin, at the Valencia hall. Hall 11.2, stand A02 #7.