In the southwest slope of the Sierra Nevada, at over 500 meters above sea level, the scent of orange blossom is clearly in the air. In the Valle de Lecrín region, neighboring La Alpujarra, there is an interesting (and perhaps unknown to some) orange production area that has not been affected by the drought and heat that have generally shaped the course of the Andalusian campaign.
"Unlike other areas, such as the Guadalquivir Valley, where the heat prevented a good fruit setting in spring, we had perfect fruit setting in our citrus, as we are in a later area with generally lower temperatures," said Raúl Mingorance Aguilera, president of the Agrupa El Valle cooperative. "Regarding water, we have not had any issues with scarcity and we can say that this year's harvest has been excellent in terms of both quantity and quality."
"In this area of the Valle de Lecrín, the oranges have had their usual round shape and reached very good sizes; in fact, we have had significantly more medium and large sizes compared to other years," he said. "The water supply from Sierra Nevada has remained constant, and that has allowed the three rivers of the region to have an abundant flow."
The 320 producers belonging to the S.C.A. Agrupa El Valle grow their citrus in small plots on the slopes of the mountains forming the valley. "Our location in a colder area gives our citrus special characteristics. The fruit grows at an altitude of between 500 and 600 meters and the harvest takes place about a month later than that of other Andalusian citrus crops. This gives it a special flavor, a bit more acidic, but with a very high sugar content," says Raúl, who planned to participate as a speaker at the 3rd Technical Conferences on Sustainable Agriculture in the Valle de Lecrín, held within the framework of the Orange Fair in the region.
"Many people are unaware of the fact that citrus fruits are grown here, since it is a cold area, so our next step is to promote the area's citrus production,
whose quality is actually backed by the guarantee brand Naranjas del Valle de Lecrín, registered in 2012, which we want to officially protect," says Raúl. "Still, our citrus, especially the organic production, is highly appreciated in Europe in countries like the Netherlands and Belgium."
"Our conventional production goes to both the fresh market and the processing industry, which this year has paid very good prices, triple and even quadruple those of previous years at the peak of the campaign. For oranges, we have gone from ridiculous prices of 10 cents per kilo to 40 cents, and for the Navel, from 8-10 cents to 37 cents per kilo. This price has now dropped, but it remains at 27 cents."
The Granada-based cooperative is specialized in oranges. It produces about 5 million kilos for juicing and one million kilos for fresh consumption. "We also produce around 500,000 kilos of lemons of the Fino and Verna varieties, and at this time, we are considering introducing other citrus fruits, like Ruby Star grapefruit, limes and especially, some varieties of red orange, which are increasingly in demand," says Raúl. "In fact, the cooperative is going to address this issue in the coming weeks, while we continue working on the current campaign, which has not yet come to a close."
"Starting the campaign later gives us the advantage of being able to supply oranges later. We will continue working with the juicing varieties until after Easter. We will also be able to continue shipping organic oranges to our clients until the end of April."
For more information:
S.C.A. Agrupa El Valle
Calle la fuente s/n
18658 Melegís, Granada, Spain
Tel.: +34 687 821 566
rminaguilera@yahoo.es