The bulk of the stone fruit campaign has already ended in the Guadalquivir Valley and the activity is now focused on the plum harvest, which will last until the end of August.
According to the sector manager of Asociafruit, Jose Rodriguez: "The first part of the campaign concluded with good results, except for the earliest peach and nectarine varieties that were affected by a significant lack of fruit set due to the cold weather in late March, which caused them to produce lower volumes per hectare than estimated."
Moreover, the increase in temperatures in mid-May advanced the harvest of all late varieties -those harvested in June- by ten days. As a result, they overlapped with earlier varieties and caused some accumulation of fruit in warehouses at the end of May. The president of stone fruit of Asociafruit said that, despite this, the quality of the harvested fruit was right, sizes were superior, and there was a higher yield per hectare.
According to estimates, Andalusia will produce 26,000 tons of nectarines, 13,200 tons of peaches, and 650 tons of Paraguayans.
Good campaign in Andalusia
Rodriguez said this has been a good campaign for Andalusia because, for the second consecutive year, they didn't have to compete with the gross production volume of Murcia, Andalusia's main competitor in stone fruit at the national level. "Thus, we were able to place our merchandise in the markets without collapsing them. We think it's due to the massive uprooting of stone fruit crops in Murcia because there haven't been any very adverse climatic incidents."
"Another trend we are noticing is that Murcia's peach, apricot, and donut peaches are okay, but their nectarine isn't growing well and it's being replaced by other crops." As a result, it seems only Seville and Huelva will be growing nectarine. They already make up 70% of the productions there, stated Jose Rodriguez.
The future prospects for these fruits in the Guadalquivir Valley are optimistic, as the massive uprooting of crops that took place four and three seasons ago has slowed down. Thus, the surface and production area has stabilized and shows a small growth trend, stated the sector president of Asociafruit. "The stone fruit sector in Andalusia, in general, is doing well and has an excellent varietal offer," he added.
"Andalusia is expected to harvest 11,000 tons of plums, which is a medium-high harvest. However, there are not very good calibers when compared to our main competitor, which is Badajoz," he added.
Source: sevilla.abc.es
