According to a study of LA UNIÓ de Llauradors' technical services, even though persimmon prices increased by 5%, the gross income of producers decreased by 16%.
This decrease was due to a 20% decrease in production over the previous season and the high incidence of pests, such as the whitefly or the Mycosphaerella fungus, due to the proliferation of abandoned fields. Production costs have increased by 25 to 30% over the last season as a consequence of the increase and periodicity of phytosanitary treatments.
After the production cost increased last season and this season, the fruit produced can now average € 2.2/100 kg but can reach up to € 3.10/100 kg in the commercial fruit. At the moment they can account for more than 10% of all cultivation expenses; four years ago they barely accounted for 3%. La UNIÓ insists that anything below € 0.35/kg puts the viability of the crop in serious danger.
There has also been a considerable increase in fruit that isn't suitable to be marketed in this campaign, especially outside the scope of cooperatives. As a result, nearly 40% of the production wasn't released to the markets.
It should be noted that many producers abandoned or directly uprooted the trees from their farms after the disastrous economic results of the 2019 campaign. Last year, the area devoted to persimmon cultivation in the Valencian Community -which had grown at a 14% annual rate during the last eighteen years- decreased by 3% for the first time, going from 16,101 hectares to 15,640 hectares.
The price of persimmon at origin during this season has stood at € 0.24/kg, i.e. 5% higher than in the previous season. This rise in prices has not offset the drop in production. Producers have achieved a total gross income of nearly 80 million euro, i.e. 16% less than the more than 95 million euro achieved in 2019.
LA UNIÓ made a series of proposals to relaunch the crop. One of the most important proposals refers to the fight against pests. The organization also demands an official regulation on the persimmon's commercial quality standards.
For more information:
LA UNIÓ
www.launio.org