Spain starts field adaptation for new pepper varieties
During the meeting between the general director of Agricultural and Live-Stock Production, Manuel Lainez, and representatives from the pepper consortium in the Cooperative Sunriver, to analyze the development of this project in the field, the general director pointed to the investigation phase of the project that had some optimal results regarding new hybrid peppers, like the California type adapted to the weather conditions in the Alicante province. So, from now on its behavior will be tested in parcels by Sunriver, but also by Anecoop, as a previous stage for its introduction to farmers.
The new tested varieties allow the widening of the production period for this product and diminish the use of heating in greenhouses, needed during winter months for the pepper flower to become a fruit.
That way, production costs can be greatly reduced for farmers as they save in energy and as they have the chance to have new proper seeds, not needing to acquire them by high prices abroad.
To highlight, the fact that this project was started by the Generalitat (local government) in 2006, through Foundation Agroalimed, in collaboration with the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, cooperatives Sunriver, Anecoop, Hortamira and Foundation Cajamar, as an action within the strategy of knowledge and technology transference to the productive sectors.
The area dedicated to the pepper cultivation in the Valencia community is around 660 hectares, placed mainly in the south of Alicante, and with a production around 43,000 tons.
Source: gva