The 1st Strategic Forum for Citrus, held in Huelva, devoted some of its time to organic production, with the presence of Ecovalia, represented by its president, Álvaro Barrera, and of Alejandro Cabrera, territorial delegate of the Andalusian Committee for Organic Agriculture (CAAE) in Huelva, Extremadura and Portugal.
Ecovalia informed Huelva's producers about the real marketing possibilities for organic citrus. Cabrera assured that the demand from European markets cannot be met because "there is not enough supply;" however, on the other side of the scale, the conventional market has not recorded the same development, leading to price competition, which is something "that plays against us, given how the path to follow is to have a firm commitment to quality, and if we reduce the price, we run serious risks."
The CAAE representative showed how organic production has been growing in Spain, Andalusia and Huelva over the last 25 years, which makes it clear that it is a consolidated production and with potential to continue positioning itself in the markets. The region of Andalusia accounts for 50% of the country's acreage devoted to organic production and Huelva has a prominent position in this context.
One of the essential steps to be taken when planning to work with this type of production is "to change one's mentality," explained Cabrera, because it is true that some practices related to the agricultural management of the productions have to be changed, "although this is neither complicated nor difficult," he underlined. "Moreover, the development of the sector has allowed us to currently have access to a sufficient number of effective tools to deal with any problem in the production and succeed".
According to Cabrera, one of the main handicaps for the organic production is that growers are generally quite old and "this lack of generational change results in a lack of concern or interest in new business models."
Research programs run by Ifapa
Other participants in this 1st Forum were Estefanía Romero and Ana Belén González, both researchers at the Institute of Agricultural and Fisheries Research and Training (Ifapa) working at the centre in Alcalá del Río. Obtaining the maximum profitability and reducing costs are the main goals of their studies in various Andalusian farms, including the one owned by Agricasa in Gibraleón.
Production, fruit quality, agricultural management and irrigation techniques have all been dealt with by the lines of study developed by Ifapa over the past 7 years. Estefanía Romero, who has been part of this organisation for five years, has insisted on the convenience of diversifying the patterns commonly applied in Andalusia, depending on the results set as production targets, including the varieties to be used, or the various management techniques. For Romero, there is a clear trend among Andalusian citrus growers to make the switch to later varieties.
Cost optimization, with the introduction of mechanised harvesting, is also studied. And regarding organic production, she pointed out that it requires raising one's awareness for the environment, rationalising the use of inputs and maintaining a zero waste mentality.
Ana Belén González went into detail on the results of her study, related to the use of geotextile mesh for soil in both organic and conventional crops. The qualities of this type of mesh are its permeability, both for air and water, its capacity to provide 99% of the shade, and its durability, as it can be used for a decade.
Its use has made it possible to reduce the need for irrigation water by 70%, while facilitating the growth of better quality fruits, achieving greater precocity in young plantations and increasing the production volume, despite the reduced vegetative growth of the trees.
In organic crops, this mesh is "very useful, because it facilitates manual weeding and, ultimately, helps bring the production costs down.
Other experts participating in the Forum included Mª José Hernández, of the General Subdirectorate of Fruits and Vegetables, Olive Oil and Viticulture of the Ministry of Agriculture, Mapama, and Rosario Saseta, technical director of the Agro-Food Consultation of the South, which together with Ecovalia has been one of the organisers of this 1st Forum.
The event closed with a round table which counted with the participation of representatives of the company Cítricos del Andévalo and of the SAT Cítricos del Andarax.
Source: agrodiariohuelva.es
