Spain will have to get rid of up to 400,000 tons of lemons. Farmers blame the importation of crops from abroad. However, some farmers consider excessive growth of the citrus crop to be the main cause. According to estimates, the losses will reach up to 120 million euros. The solution could be various ecological measures, writes El País.
Madrid
10:27 a.m May 10, 2024
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Spanish farmers complain most about lemons coming from abroad | Photo: Lauren Natale | Source: Pexels
According to the latest estimates by the Spanish farmers’ association COAG, around 400,000 tons of lemons will not be sold between 2023 and 2024, which represents about 27% of planned production. So the crops will go to waste. Losses from this waste are estimated at 120 million euros.
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Spanish farmers blame various factors. Among them lemons that are imported into the European Union from Turkey, Egypt, Argentina and South Africa, investment funds changing the market, supermarkets that only want aesthetically perfect fruit, an increase in pests and unfavorable climatic conditions.
However, some people in agriculture openly admit that the main cause may be the disproportionate increase in the number of hectares of land on which lemons are grown in Spain. This reason is also mentioned by the World Citrus Organization WCO. She also says that she does not understand the criticism of foreign imports of lemons, since Spanish lemons are found all over Europe.
“Spain is the market leader, it is the one that controls the situation. It is always easy to blame someone else, but we have to accept that we are in markets where there must be a minimum level of competition,” said WCO Secretary General Philippe Binard in a telephone interview with El País.
The interbranch association of lemons and grapefruits Ailimpo, which represents the lemon processing industry in Spain, has not only distanced itself from criticism of the importation of foreign crops, but has also admitted that citrus cultivation in Spain needs to be reduced to balance supply and demand.
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Overproduction is not the only problem
José Antonio García, director of Ailimpo, has no doubt what the problem is. “The production got out of hand,” he says. “In the end, it’s simple math. If the market is able to absorb 1.1 million tonnes of lemons and the estimated production for this season is 1.5 million, 400,000 tonnes will remain in the fields,” he adds.
Pedro Gomáriz, head of COAG’s citrus department, acknowledges that there is overproduction in the country, but says it is only one of many factors.
Spanish farmers complain the most about lemons coming from abroad. “They come from Turkey, South Africa, Egypt and Argentina. They are flooding the European market with lemons that compete with ours, but without having to meet the same standards as us. They treat products that we don’t have here, with much cheaper labor and often subsidized by the state,” says the farmer.
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While these complaints are quite common in Spain, data from Ailimpo on lemon consumption in the EU between October 2023 and March 2024 shows a different situation. In these six months, total demand for citrus in the EU was 403,000 tonnes, of which 302,000 tonnes came from Spanish fields.
Gomáriz blames the problems on the “oligopolistic” practices of supermarkets, the decisions of investment groups and the effects of the weather. He downplays the boom in lemon cultivation.
According to García, the “cultivation explosion” is a typical cycle in agriculture. But he acknowledges that there are other factors at play. “It is true that investment funds are involved in the lemon industry, but they have not invested a single euro in new plantations,” he says.
Solutions in the form of ecological measures
Ailimpo proposes solutions in the form of tax cuts, improved agricultural insurance, support for increased consumption and a more environmentally friendly model. The organization supports regenerative agriculture, a method whose main principle is the return of nature to natural biological processes.
For Ailimpo, the most important thing now is to deal with the losses. The organization believes that environmental measures are the key to ensuring long-term economic profitability. They are trying to design a system of ecological practices to improve the absorption of CO₂.
“It sounds like science fiction, but it already works in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, where agricultural activity also generates biodiversity credits. When we think about biodiversity, we think of lizards, birds, bees, but we always forget what biodiversity is in the soil,” says representative Ailimpo.
Adéla Nedelová
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