Portugal: Drought affects Algarve oranges

The lack of rain in the Algarve is producing smaller oranges, which are refused by the market, this is causing a strong drop in turnover for farmers and could lead to bankruptcy, a sector representative said.

"The fact that it hasn't rained has an effect on an orange's size, which why they are growing less than in the previous year", said Horácio Ferreira, general-director for the Agricultural Cooperative of Citrus producers in Algarve, to the news agency LUSA.

The problem, he says, is not the size of the yield, which is actually higher than usual, but the small size of much of the harvest. The consumers demand larger fruits, so the retailers do likewise. Generally they are looking for diameters over 73mm.

"Rain produces bigger fruits, of identical quality, as water from above has different micro elements and as it falls from above it makes the tree wet, drops on the ground and fertilizes the soil", he explained.

Without rain farmers will turn to drop irrigation techniques, bringing less water to the fruit.

Big distribution chains reject small sized fruits, that must be sold at a lower price to less demanding markets or, in the majority of cases, for the juice industry.

Source: Lusa