Optimism prevails in the garlic sector ahead of the upcoming harvest season. The national president of the Garlic Sector at the Association of Young Agricultural Producers (Asaja) of Cordoba, Miguel del Pino, stated that there are several factors pointing to the fact that the next harvest (to start in mid-May, depending on the weather) will be greater than that of the previous campaign, "which was already a very good one."
One of them is the expansion of the acreage devoted to the crop, which has grown by 5 percent compared to last season. Overall, more than 260,000 hectares have been planted this year, mainly in Montalbán and Santaella, the main garlic producers in Córdoba and Andalusia.
The other reasons for optimism are the good weather and the absence of diseases affecting the crop, which is developing well, with a good calibre.
Prices
If the good weather continues, the garlic sector is expected to exceed last year's 30,000 tonnes. Currently, 80 percent of the cultivated area has been planted with early garlic.
According to data from the sector, the campaign generates about 500,000 direct and indirect jobs per year in the province. Most of these focus on the harvesting campaign, although it is also necessary to take into account the previous sowing and the sorting and handling after the harvest.
As for the market value that the first garlic of the season will reach, Del Pino pointed out that it remains uncertain and that everything will depend on the results of the Chinese campaign - the main competition and threat to Spanish garlic.
The head of the Asaja's Garlic Sector said that Chinese garlic won't start to arrive in Europe until July and, if the weather remains favourable, "we will have finished harvesting by June and we will have a month to put ours on the market."
Another factor that calls for optimism, despite the uncertainty of what the Chinese production will be like this year, is the fact that both the Spanish and world market "will suffer shortages before the arrival of the first garlic of the season."
In this context, the sector expects the garlic to start the campaign with a price of around 2.5 Euro per kilo, "which guarantees profitability," pointed out del Pino.
Source: abc.es
