A Japanese delegation from the Tohoku region has recently visited the municipality of El Ejido to learn first-hand about its prosperous productive system and find out whether it's possible to transfer some of its techniques and methods to the agriculture of their own region. The councillor of Agriculture, Manuel Gómez Galera, has held a working meeting with this group of entrepreneurs at the City Council to outline the functioning of the agricultural model in broad terms, and how it has become a basis for the wealth and economic growth of the municipality.
The mayor of El Ejido talked about "the culture of entrepreneurship, effort and dynamism of farmers as the key to this sector reaching its current status in the international markets." To this, he added "the modernization and innovation capacity of the auxiliary and marketing industry, which has always stayed at the forefront in order to remain up to date." He also praised "the work ethics and sacrifice that the sector has shown" and which has allowed El Ejido to become a leading agricultural producer, accounting for "50% of the total production of the province of Almeria, with more than 1.6 million tons of fruit and vegetables per year grown on about 12,600 hectares."
The councillor also told the Japanese delegation that "one of the main challenges for the sector, and in which we are working intensively, is that of sustainability." He explained that "a business society has been created to work towards this end. It is a path that we have taken together with the marketing sector and we are working on the launch of a plant that will transform the surplus fruits into livestock feed."
The market system, product sales or the price fluctuations are other issues that Gómez Galera addressed. He wished to highlight the progress being made "towards an increasingly cleaner and pesticide-free agriculture. The goal is to eliminate one hundred percent of these materials with the introduction of auxiliary fauna to tackle pests in crops. We have a very competitive, cutting-edge agriculture, with access to the latest technologies and cultivation techniques, as well as with the capacity to optimize the use of natural resources in a fully environmentally-friendly manner," said the mayor.
Lastly, he said that "there are still many challenges ahead as regards internationalization (with the opening of new markets), the consolidation of organic farming, the establishment of the fresh cut and processed ranges, as well as the search for new water inputs to solve the current water deficit."
Source: noticiasdealmeria.es
