The Unión de Uniones de Agricultores y Ganaderos has sent a letter to the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, urging him to "initiate a process reviewing the activity of Intercitrus so that it is no longer recognized as an inter-branch organization for the citrus sector because of its inaction and evident paralysis over the last five years as well as for its lack of measures to structure and strengthen the citrus sector."
The Union had already alerted the Ministry of Intercitrus' inactivity in 2021. "Intercitrus was born in 1993. In the beginning, it was very active and a reference in the sector's promotion and the different activities it carried out. It worked on the approval of sales contracts, the management of the processing industry's reference prices and withdrawals, and gave the sector continuous information regarding orange and mandarin exports and imports. However, it entered into a phase of inactivity starting 2008; a phase that practically continues to date."
“That an entity like Intercitrus does not have a website and that the processing industry has abandoned it are clear symptoms that it is in a deep coma,” the Unión stated. “Its existence is an obstacle to the emergence of a new inter-branch organization that is useful to the citrus sector. In addition, its own statutes contemplate that if it does not fulfill its functions it must be dissolved,” they added.
At the last sectoral meeting, the Ministry of Agriculture itself reported that the consumption of oranges and mandarins in Spanish households is falling progressively. According to their data, orange consumption has gone from 21.36 kilos per capita in 2013 to 15.44 kilos in 2021.
The Unión de Uniones considers: "That the citrus sector faces challenges, especially regarding the activity of third countries, which make it convenient to have an inter-branch articulation body that contributes to the structuring and better functioning of the citrus market. The evidence of recent years proves that Intercitrus no longer responds to that need, so the sector needs a new organization that is respectful of the rules and that has the appropriate reliable accreditations of the branches that are part of it so it can legitimately represent them."
In this sense, the organization asked the Ministry: "To promote the creation of a state-level citrus inter-branch organization that includes all the agents that reliably prove their representativeness in the sector, as required by European and state regulations in this regard. If this is done, there is no doubt that the Unión de Uniones and La Unió will be present for its implementation in the sector,” they stated.
For more information:
Unión de Uniones
https://uniondeuniones.org