The Spanish-Italian-French Garlic Committee held a meeting in the production area of the violet garlic from Cadours PDO, in France, to continue its work in defense of this crop, which is of great importance in the production areas. In 2021, in Spain alone, there were nearly 29,630 hectares devoted to garlic production which produced 309,100 tons of garlic and generated more than 16,000 direct jobs (equivalent to about 4 million wages).
Spain was represented by members of Anpca-Fepex, Agricultural Food Cooperatives of Spain, National Garlic Table, María José Hernández, who is in charge of the MAPA at the Spanish embassy in Paris, and Jérôme Frouté, the Agricultural Counsellor in Spain, among others. The Committee discussed and presented information on the development of the current campaign by country (market dynamics, stocks of the 2021 harvest...), carried out an analysis of the current situation, and presented its harvest forecasts for 2022.
The European sector expressed its concern about the use of plant protection products and, most important, about the decline in registrations in the EU of active substances authorized for plant health control. For example, the lack of broadleaf herbicides and other fungicides that are about to be banned is a cause for concern. These bans lead to a decrease in competitiveness and make it very difficult to meet the production needs of a growing population, the sector stated.
"Why should they be banned here if they are still used and imported from outside the European Union," asked Julio Bacete, the president of the National Garlic Board. The sector wonders why they are pursuing these agricultural products that have done no harm to society. "This is going to increase the price of agricultural products and make us dependent on third parties," he added.