High temperatures since the beginning of the summer have allowed melon growers from Ciudad Real, Spain, to start harvesting melons this week in optimal ripening conditions, assured Cristóbal Giménez, president of Asaja in Argamasilla de Alba and one of the province's melon growers already making headway in the harvesting of melons to compete with those from Almeria and Murcia, which generally arrive earlier, but are of "lower quality, because normally at this stage they are already finishing with the harvest." For a few years, the melon growers' guild from Ciudad Real, the province where 90% of the Region's melon production takes place, has had to compete with melons grown in greenhouses or from places where high temperatures arrive earlier.
In this way, the harvesting stage starts, with a quality always "extraordinary and superior to what's produced elsewhere, due to the climate, to the fact that we don't use greenhouses, and to the quality of the land," affirms Cristóbal. The second stage begins in mid-August and the third in September, when approximately 20% of the production is harvested.
Price in the market
Melon growers are still unable to estimate the price that their product will have in the market. "That's something which depends on the demand," affirms Cristóbal, while he outlines that production costs amount to around 0.20 Euro per kilo. It equals the production costs in other Regions, where wholesaler and transport costs are already included, which means tough competition for farmers, but they appeal to the superior quality of Ciudad Real-grown melons. "I wouldn't be surprised if farmers in Murcia were paid just 0.10 Euro per kilo", says Cristóbal assertively, stating that farmers should at least be paid double the production costs for it to be profitable.
Source: ABC