The manager of Natural Tropic, Prudencio López, has pointed out that Malaga needs to increase its production, especially that of avocados, whose consumption is growing non-stop. "It is not possible to produce enough to cover the demand and there are countries like Peru or Morocco that continue planting," he stated.
The same was reported by the manager of Tropical Millenium, Miguel Ángel Páez, for whom the word that best defines the situation of the subtropical sector in Malaga is "growth," mainly because the consumption of the two flagship fruits currently produced in Malaga, avocados and mangoes, continues to increase. "They are the ones growing the most after the big ones, like bananas," he assured.
"Our fruit meets enviable standards. As far as avocados are concerned, there may be other origins matching our quality, but that is not the case for mangoes." Our product is much better, unless it is brought by plane, which results in much higher prices. That is why the demand for our mangoes is so good," stated Trops manager Enrique Colilles.
Losing influence
However, López has warned that if Malaga is unable to grow and loses ground in the production of avocados, it is possible for it to lose its influence on the market and for trading companies to end up setting themselves up in other areas. "If there is no growth in the production of avocados, traders will have to resort to imports to be able to supply our customers, and that is an activity that can be carried out anywhere," stated López, who has personally asked the Councillor of Agriculture, Rodrigo Sánchez, to look after Malaga's subtropical fruit sector.
Warning
The production that is definitely expected to grow in the coming years is that of mangoes. All points to Malaga being able to triple this fruit's production within no more than four years. New plantings are constantly made, and those trees will become productive in one, two or three seasons. Although the figures are not clear, assuming that the acreage devoted to mango cultivation has reached 3,000 hectares and that one hectare yields about 20,000 kilos, in four years the harvest in Malaga could reach 60,000 tonnes.
For this reason, companies like Trops have long been working on the promotion of the fruit at national level, to try giving a boost to the consumption in the domestic market, where there are still many people who are unfamiliar with the product. "The quality of our production is higher than that of the competition, but their prices are lower," stated Colilles, for whom it is necessary to consider the cultivation of later varieties in order to extend the Spanish campaign, which lasts only two months.
For his part, Páez believes it is necessary to become stricter in the planning of the harvest. "We have to do things properly. We can compete in terms of both quality and price. Our mangoes are better than the ones imported by plane, which cost up to five Euro per kilo," pointed out Páez.
According to the head of Natural Tropic, Spanish distributors have been more committed than ever to domestic mangoes this campaign, which should be appreciated, bearing in mind that countries like Israel are extending their campaigns.
Source: diariosur.es
