The asparagus crops covered by the PGI Asparagus from Huétor-Tájar have not been experiencing their best moments in recent years, but there are new possibilities ahead.
The volume of green asparagus has been gradually dropping since the actual creation of the PGI itself. Today, it only reaches a volume only of 50,000 kilos.
Although this crop goes back to Roman times, its low productivity compared to the hybrid green varieties, has meant a gradual abandonment over many years, whilst at the same time the fields of Granada were being changed over to specialisation in green asparagus, with a view to European export.
However, today a new chance is being given to one of its varieties, Asparagus Maritimus, from the Granada cooperative Cesurca.
This variety is the result of different population crosses belonging to the D.O. It is a bitter green asparagus, which compared to the previous green-purple variety has a high productivity and an important adaptation to the region covered by this quality stamp.
A confused consumer.“The main problem we are faced with is that the end consumer believes that green ‘triguero’ asparagus and slim green asparagus are the same. And this confusion gets worse when we are talking about fresh asparagus, since consumers do recognise it when it is preserved, under the brand name Los Monteros. In fact, we made a very quantitative leap in preserved produce, jumping from 400,000 euros to 1,800,000, which dropped again with the economic crisis and we are now moving up to 600,000 euros,” Antonio Francisco Zamora, chairman of Cesurca explains.
And problems increase when there are operators on the market that label slim green asparagus as green ‘triguero’ asparagus. In addition, “the large supermarket chains do not always guarantee the food safety of some asparagus that they sell as green asparagus when it is not. The large supermarket chains should take more care to know their suppliers.”
Diversification. The Granada cooperative Cesurca has other diversification lines, such as the pumpkin crop, started four years ago and which it uses for its soil rotation. Artichokes are also in this same business line, both for fresh produce and for preserved goods.
The organisation’s trade cycle is closed with the importing of asparagus from Peru and Mexico.
