The Council of Water, Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of Murcia is developing a project to evaluate the agronomic behaviour of kakis (Diospyros kaki) in organic and conventional farming in the Region; a move that will be beneficial for producers, agricultural cooperatives, technicians and students.
Kaki consumption has been on the rise in recent years. In fact, there are areas in Valencia where this crop has replaced the more traditional citrus fruits, which is due, to a large extent, to its greater profitability.
Spain is now the world's fourth largest kaki producer, only behind China, South Korea and Japan. In the last ten years, the acreage in Spain has gone from 2,000 hectares to almost 17,000 (data for 2016), located mainly in the regions of Valencia and Andalusia. The most common variety is the Rojo Brillante.
In the Region of Murcia, the fruit's production is still small, so the Council considered it interesting to set up test plots to monitor its adaptation to the different climatological and edaphic conditions of the Region, as well as to assess whether organic cultivation is possible.
The experiment began in January 2014 and the trial will last for at least 10 years. The data to be sampled are crop yield and quality, phenological status, growth (trunk diameter) and incidence of pests and diseases.
Source: EFE
