The low profitability of citrus farms, the growth in the demand in the European Union and the United States and the greater ease of adaptation due to climate change are encouraging numerous Valencian producers to plant subtropical fruits such as avocados, cherimoyas, medlars and mangoes, even resulting in the abandonment of the orange trees they had been working with their entire lives.
In La Safor, the orange county par excellence, there are also avocado plantations. The crop was first introduced about a decade ago, but in the past couple of years, it has started becoming really trendy.
Avelino GandÃa (52 years old) has an avocado plantation in Oliva. He had inherited an orange plantation, but he got tired of the fruit's low prices and poor purchase conditions. On the Internet, he saw news that spoke of avocados as an emerging crop in the Region of Valencia. "I dared to give a go, and my bet has not gone wrong," he explains.
His plot is located in Les Planes, near Els Rajolars. It is an ideal area for avocados, since it has a special, warmer and less humid microclimate. Winters with temperatures falling below minus 1 degree Celsius are rare.
Avelino had to wait three years before his avocado trees started bearing fruit; barely ten pieces. But from then on, the trees gradually doubled their production. He has three varieties of different ages; Bacon, Hass (the most marketable) and Lamb Hass.
Switching to avocados requires a big initial investment. Starting with each seedling, which costs about 22 Euro. Ten years ago, it was cheaper, since Avelino paid 13 Euro. "But of course, if you tell this to a lifelong farmer they will be shocked, because an orange tree is worth just about 3 Euro." Saplings are usually supplied on request and in small quantities. The production cost is slightly higher than that of orange trees.
Also, the profitability of the so-called "green gold" and the difficulty to obtain plant material have led to an increase in the theft of avocados. Thieves have already broken into his property four times. Moreover, unlike with orange trees, there is no need to burn the waste generated by the pruning or dry branches. They are left on the ground, they decompose and become fertiliser for the tree. "The most difficult thing is to learn how to clean and prune them," he explains. And they also need more water than orange trees.
In short, Avelino is satisfied with the income obtained from each harvest. "Also, the fruit can be kept for several months on the tree, much longer than oranges. They do not fall because of ripeness and that gives you more strength as a producer when negotiating the price," he says. The Hass avocado can be left on the tree without any issues from November to June. Avelino usually sells the fruit at around 2 Euro per kilo, although in the Region of Valencia some pay up to 3 Euro, depending on the fruit's size and quality. That is more or less what one could get for 20 kilos of oranges.
Another advantage is that there are avocado traders in La Safor, like Eugenio Soria, also from Oliva. The fruit is handled and palletised in the warehouse of the company Somopar, and from there it is sold to supermarkets and wholesalers. The final price to the consumer is about 5-6 Euro per kilo.
Source: www.levante-emv.com