In recent years, stonefruit plantations have not stopped growing in the Spanish region of Aragon. The nectarine production, for example, has almost doubled, from 85,000 tonnes in 2005 to 156,000 tonnes in 2016. According to data provided by the Department for Rural Development of the Aragonese Government, in 2005 there were 15,480 hectares devoted to the production of peaches and nectarines in the region, while in 2016 this figure amounted to 20,890 hectares.
Thus, Aragon, which has a total of 5,600 sweet fruit farms, has gone from producing 200,000 tonnes of peaches, paraguayos and platerines to harvesting 268,000 tonnes.
The agricultural organizations believe that, to a large extent, this strong increase has been due to the arrival of big companies which were not involved in the activity and decided to diversify and invest in the sector. "They are responsible for most of the hectares that have been planted in recent years in Aragón," points out the head for fruit at UAGA Aragón, Vicente López, who said that the arrival of these companies (many involved in construction) has "destabilised" the sector. "Now, small producers are paying for it," he laments.
The increase in production has clashed head-on with the Russian veto, a market that used to absorb 30% of Aragon's stonefruit and whose border closure represents the main cause of the current crisis. All this, coupled with the speculative practices of large distribution companies, has led to a price collapse that will prevent thousands of producers from covering their production costs.
The search for solutions
Producers are aware that the current crisis is structural, so they are pursuing to organise discussions in order to find solutions. In this sense, the general secretary of UAGA, José Manuel Penella, advocates mainly to improve the commercial structures, but does not rule out regulating and limiting the plantations. However, he stresses that the key now is to try to save this campaign. "And the only way to do this is by having Brussels increase the withdrawal quotas," he insisted.
The director of Mercofraga, Sergio de Dios, regrets that at the moment it has not been possible to "relocate" the exports that went to Russia and bets on "limiting the plantations and, of course, no longer subsidising the new ones. If this continues, many producers will go bankrupt, so I think it is better for the administration to act as it already did with vineyards," he points out.
López doesn't agree. "Everything can be up for debate, but don't tell me that I have to regulate because of those who came into the sector just three years ago."
Rural Development Councillor Joaquín Olona is also not in favour of limiting plantations and considers that the problem is not so much of overproduction, but of "lack of commercial structures."
For his part, José Peralta, a fruit grower from Fraga, also believes the solution is not to regulate the plantations and insists that the problem is commercial. "We should ask ourselves why politicians haven't solved the Russian veto issue in four years."
Source: elperiodicodearagon.com
