"Spain: "Citrus campaign has so far been an unmitigated disaster"

At a general assembly held this week, the president of the Valencian Growers Association (AVA-ASAJA), Cristóbal Aguado, defended the need for the Consell to create a round table for citrus, which would bring everyone involved in the sector together with the regional administration with the goal of designing a plan of action to tackle the severe profitability crisis affecting the citrus sector and, especially, producers.

"The current citrus campaign has so far been an unmitigated disaster, a complete failure," said Aguado to the more than 200 delegates who attended the meeting, "and it is necessary to design and develop an emergency plan to prevent citrus from continuing to be sold at a loss by supermarkets as a way to attract consumers."

The first proposal from AVA-ASAJA is to convert 10,000 hectares of Clemenules, Navelinas and Navel in Valencia, whose high yields concentrate in certain periods of the campaign, causing huge oversupply and a collapse in prices. The project includes the conversion of the said acreage, preferably for the cultivation of early or late mandarin varieties, but they also do not rule out the introduction of new crops. The conversion of these 10,000 hectares would result in the withdrawal of more than 300,000 tonnes of these varieties which hinder the proper functioning of the campaign.

The president of AVA-ASAJA stated that "this is only a first step, which we consider realistic and perfectly manageable; what is clear is that we cannot continue like this season after season. Last year, more than 3,000 hectares of citrus were abandoned in Valencia, and over the last decade this figure amounts to 24,500 hectares, which represents 13.7% of the total citrus acreage. The most hit by this are the producers, and if we don't reorganise and start acting as a serious, professional and united industry, the days of the Valencian citrus sector may be numbered. At AVA-ASAJA we are not planning to sit idly, and if we really want to change the current deplorable situation it is necessary for us to start working together."

Other measures to reorganise the citrus industry, announced today by Aguado during the general assembly, include initiatives to concentrate production and commercial supply, a strategic plan for the development of new varieties by the IVIA, the launch of promotional campaigns to boost consumption, as well as the introduction of legislative changes that can make the producer organisation model more efficient.