Villanueva del Trabuco, a town located in the comarca of Antequera, continues to work on the promotion of asparagus as an alternative to the economic activity that prevails in the area: olive production. In this sense, a Dutch company has already confirmed its interest in the purchase and export of vegetables grown in the fields of this municipality, where the weather is perfectly suitable for their production.
In fact, the firm intends to convey its own production methods to the asparagus growers of Villanueva del Trabuco, as this would result in the improvement of the final production. The fact is that the methods developed by the Dutch company would make it possible to cultivate them also during the months of January and February, when there is currently practically no production. This would be done with a system of greenhouses.
The Town Council's plan is for the handling process of the asparagus to take place in the municipality of the region of Antequera, prior to their sale in the Netherlands, thus guaranteeing the marketing of the crops grown in Villanueva del Trabuco. Therefore, the local administration is working on the creation of a cooperative to bring together the various producers, among whom there would already be about twenty interested.
After several meetings, the City Council has already given the asparagus producers a warehouse at zero cost, although the official creation of the cooperative has yet to be formalised. According to the Councillor for Employment, Juan Javier Luque, if the agreement with the Dutch entity comes to fruition, what they want is for this company to give their company the machinery necessary to start its activity.
Of course, the farmland will be provided by the growers themselves, many of whom already have lands that may be optimal for the cultivation of the asparagus.
Although the Town Council will not be involved in the management of the cooperative once it has been created, it will serve as a liaison with the different administrations, so that the partners have greater ease in accessing the various subsidies that this sector may be granted. This aid will be vital in the future in order to improve the different processes related to the harvesting of asparagus.
With the creation of the cooperative, the City Council expects up to 100 jobs to be created in the long term, taking into account both the harvesting and subsequent processing. In fact, in the campaign that has just finished, the growers of Villanueva del Trabuco have produced up to 50,000 kilograms of asparagus; a figure that leads us to think that a more consolidated project is possible.
Source: laopiniondemalaga.es
