Since September 2016, the Orri Running Committee (ORC), the Association of producers of the Orri variety, has surveyed more than 1,700 plots of this mandarin in Spain. More than 85% have been carried out in the Region of Valencia, around 10% in Andalusia and about 5% in the Region of Murcia. Of these, around 290 corresponded to possible illegal farms, with 261 having been audited, and only 85, which is 5% of the total number of farms surveyed, being illegal farms.
Removal of trees in illegal Orri mandarin plantation in the province of Valencia
The Enforcement Organization, S.L. (TEO), exclusive master licensee in Spain, among other territories, of the protected plant variety Orri, has therefore opened, during this same period, 72 files for illegal exploitation of this variety in Spain, corresponding to about 142 hectares; more than 69,400 trees.
Of these, 48,580 trees (70%) have been found in the Region of Valencia, 13,671 trees (19.7%) in Andalusia, namely in the provinces of Huelva and Seville, 5,483 trees (7.9%) in the Region of Murcia and 2.4% in Catalonia. And further legal action for the protection of the variety is still expected. What is clear is that all these control actions do nothing more than reveal the small number of illegal holdings present and the tight control that the ORC is exerting on them.
Illegal Orri mandarin plot destroyed in the province of Castellon.
The survey of the plots has been carried out since the launch, in September 2016, of the "Orri APP", the first mobile application to identify authorised citrus farms by making use of mobile geolocation. It is a powerful tool available to the members of the Orri Running Committee (ORC), which also serves to identify potentially irregular plots. Each of the more than 400 associates is authorised to download the application in up to five mobile terminals.
These data were presented at the second assembly of the Association of Producers of the Orri variety, the Orri Running Committee (ORC), held recently in Valencia. The associates were reminded that the TEO has no plans to regularise illegal plantations that were not legalised during the public and open regularization process that started in 2015, which ended in April 2016, and that, therefore, legal action will be taken against each and every one of the illegal plantations of the Orri variety that are not licensed.