Whilst Huelva is experiencing the emergence of the small berry market, there are already voices raised against turning away from strawberry production.
Over the past two campaigns, Huelva has lost almost 20% of its surface area devoted to the produce that launched the region onto the fruit export market: the strawberry.
And everything is pointing towards a new boom in raspberries and blueberries, where, at present a great deal is being poured into research, new technologies, formats, etc. “However,” Francisco Sánchez, manager of Onubafruit, “the most important produce from Huelva must continue to be the strawberry. It is true that it has many problems, and that, even after decades of work, we have not found the best variety, but the strawberry must continue to be our letter of introduction.”
“The fact that the sector has focused more on obtaining high profits than on the search for varieties that provide customer satisfaction has been a reality and here we lost the battle, but we must learn from this and put a new road map on the table that marks out obtaining strawberries with flavour, colour, without losses and without deterioration on reaching their destination, as the top priority.”
Sánchez does not share all the expectations that are being generated about blueberries, since, as it is an easy product, it could be turned into a commodity. And his view regarding raspberries is also not very promising because they will provide “medium profitability”.
On this point of crop changes, Sánchez sees a gap that is being opened up in citrus fruits, “over the past decade we have possibly lost 50% of the production and I believe that this is already been noted, therefore I would dare to say that oranges could have a good future.”
Another particular case is the cultivation of persimmons. Onubafruit placed 8 million kilos of product last season and this figure could be tripled over the next campaigns.
At this juncture, Sánchez explains that “it is more necessary than ever before to invest in research and obtain variety programmes that consolidate the sector’s position, in general and that of Onubafruit, in particular.”
In fact, the company has exclusive varieties of raspberry (Lagorai, Imara, Kweli and Vajolet) and trials are being performed with a vegetable material in strawberries that could mean a brand new era in the sector. Regarding blueberries, work is also being carried out to obtain their own materials. “Remaining at the head of the sector, means not sleeping, anticipating the trends, innovating and constantly looking for the crème de la crème”, Sánchez concludes.
