Spain will reach the figure of 400,000 tonnes of persimmons in the next campaign.
These were the figures provided by Vicente Masiá, chairman of the National Persimmon Association during the Assembly held in the middle of April.
If the weather conditions are right, the production from the different Spanish regions, led by the Autonomous Region of Valencia, will go from the 350,000 tonnes reached in 2015-16 to 400,000. These figures are approaching the round number of half a million tonnes that almost certainly will be reached in 2020.
Operators’ concern is obvious when faced with an offer that grows year after year and where, at present, there are no new markets. This sector was one of the most affected by the Russian veto, a country to which different qualities were exported, amongst which was the standard one. “For us, the opening up of new destinations will be important, particularly South East Asia (China, India, Indonesia, etc.) as they are countries that do not need any promotion campaigns because they know the produce and some of them are even important producers,” the executive explained.
“Obviously, other markets would also be interesting, such as Peru or Columbia, which have shown interest in the product”, he remarked.
Another of the challenges pending are the pests that affect the trees every year, as the surface area of the crop grows. “We consider it necessary to review the products that can be used.”
Payments to farmers. The executive has reiterated to the associates on several occasions the need to produce quality since payments to the farmers are dropping every campaign. “We know that the payments to the farmers are dropping every year. Fruit with sizes of up to 70 millimetres penalises the larger sized fruit and we must avoid this.”
Masiá emphasised that “inflating the market with cheap produce is not the answer and this is a practice used by organisations that have a great deal of produce and they present formats with 7 or 8 pieces in a one kilo baskets.”
The event was closed by the Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Rural Development, Francisco Mulero, who advocated creating an Inter-professional association “in order to not look back and regret it in 10 years’ time,” the politician insisted.
