The rains persist in Murcia, whose fruit and vegetable sector is having one of those seasons with the most setbacks caused by meteorological adversities.
The hail recorded on Monday afternoon in the growing areas of Torre Pacheco, El Jimenado and Los Martines del Puerto, Fuente Álamo, El Algar, Sucina and in the vicinity of La Manga del Mar Menor has seriously damaged the melon plantations, as well as the watermelon and pepper ones, to a lesser extent.
"The areas hit by the hailstorm are hugely affected, since all the fruit has been destroyed or been left unusable for marketing just before the harvest. Also, rains and excess humidity are always very harmful to melon crops, since they facilitate the appearance of pests and diseases," says Mariano Zapata, president of the Proexport Alhóndigas Sector Committee.
The losses for the producers affected are quite significant. The social networks of the association have published the case of a grower who has seen his 9 hectares of melons destroyed, with direct losses worth approximately € 8,300 per hectare, although the lost profit will be much greater.
"What is clear is that there won't be a great supply of melons this season. There will be fewer volumes available of all melon varieties, although the extent to which there will be shortages and how the demand and prices will react remains to be seen," says Mariano Zapata.
"We are talking about just an hour of hail, but the consequences for Murcia's producing areas have been huge. The melon-producing area located between Sucina and El Algar is the most affected," says Dutchman Thomas Bos, from the Alicante-based company Thomasol, which provides support to wholesalers, retailers, importers and exporters with the purchase and sale of Spanish fruits and vegetables. "This is being an unimaginable and, at the same time, unpredictable season in which, for the third or fourth time, the weather conditions have caused many problems to the agricultural sector."
The start of Murcia's melon campaign will therefore be marked by severe problems. "Not only are we facing that setback with the harvest in the next fifteen days, we'll also have to deal with other problems later on, since we have not been able to plant enough plants due to previous rains and the mobility restrictions during lockdown. "If the weather in northern Europe is hot, as expected, it remains to be seen whether there will be enough melons until August," says Thomas.