INTA's EEA Famaillá's Laboratory of Territorial Information Systems carried out the survey of the surface implanted with citrus in the province of Tucuman in the 2022 campaign.
The analysis was carried out through the digital processing of satellite images applying remote sensing and S.I.G. (Geographic Information Systems) analysis methodologies. According to this analysis, Tucuman has a total of 48,094 hectares devoted to citrus crops in the 2022 campaign.
Burruyacu has the largest cultivated area in the province (i.e. 34.23% of the total) and, together with the departments of Tafi Viejo, Famailla, Monteros, Chicligasta, and La Cocha, it concentrates almost 80% of the total area devoted to citrus.
When compared to the 2021 campaign, the area devoted to citrus crops in all departments decreased by 2 to almost 14%. The departments with the highest decrease were Rio Chico (-13.71%), Yerba Buena (-11.52%), Famailla (-11.47%), Chicligasta (-9.21%), Lules (-7.93%), and Monteros (-7.26%).
In total, the analysis of the information collected shows that the area planted in 2022 decreased by 3,878 hectares or 7.46% over the previous campaign.
According to data from the satellite survey that INTA Famaillá began in 2017, the planted area was always expanding, with an increasing year-on-year trend, going from 42,977 hectares planted in 2017 to 51,972 hectares in 2021; a trend that changed this year.
"The causes of this decrease could be related to the drop in profitability that the activity experienced during the last two campaigns (2021 and 2022), mainly because the prices of the fruit for the industry were low, the volumes of fresh fruit exports decreased, there's been a gradual increase in production costs, competition from other markets, and the national and international socio-economic context," the INTA stated.
Source: inta.gob.ar