Spain: Green bean cultivation grows 73% this year

Green bean cultivation registered a drop in the last years, in the province of Almería, to just 680 hectares during the 2010-2011 campaign. This product, requiring a bigger input cost during its harvest stage due to specialized labour, went from 3,000 hectares in greenhouses to less than 700 hectares. In the present campaign, producers dedicated 1,170 hectares to green bean production, meaning an increase of 72%, in comparison with the previous season. The amount produced, according to data by the Provincial Delegation for Agriculture, was 21,465 tons, 73% more than in the 2011-2012 campaign, when the amount produced was of 12,410 tons.

As explained by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fishing and Environment, the green bean "is a cultivation that had lost a big area in the last decade. A reduction of about 2,000 hectares in the last ten years, due to high production costs, so it moved to other countries where labour costs are less." One of the main competitors, that grew in cultivated area for green beans, is Morocco.

Being more specialized work, in production and product harvesting, the local government for Andalucía believes that "the lack of qualified personnel in those countries to fulfil with the required levels of quality for this product was, possibly, a cause for the 72% growth of area in the province of Almería."

Francisco Vargas assures that, "families are going back to the greenhouses. Labor is the biggest cost and many farmers, that had opted for other cultivations in the past, turned to green beans again by counting on family support."

The ministry estimates that the next campaign can go in the same direction regarding an increase in the area and in the production, which is "good news for the sector and comes with a message that through excellent quality and personalized service to clients, one can defend market quotas more consistently and for longer."

Source: Ideal