At the Sinyent Estate of the Valencian Association of Farmers (AVA-ASAJA) some three hundred farmers met yesterday afternoon to learn about the properties of the new Kinnow Low Seed mandarin variety, late ripening, easy to peel, rounded appearance and flavor sweet. Almost a candy, as they explained. Developed by the University of California Riverside (UCR), it improved the original hybrid variety to reduce the presence of seeds to a minimum.
If they were convinced and so decide, the members of AVA-ASAJA will have preferential treatment in the contract that allows them to plant in the many Valencian fields that flourish in the Valencian Community this variety that is marketed by the firm Eurosemillas and that prolongs the harvest of the late mandarins until April and May.
The presentation of the new variety was made yesterday in Valencia and in it the president of AVA-ASAJA, Cristóbal Aguado explained that Valencian agriculture is looking for new options to increase its production of mandarins, whose consumption is increasing to the detriment of orange, the star of the countryside and the Valencian imaginary.
Regarding the new product, Eurosemillas’ R&D director, José María Fontán, said that “it reduces the impact of the seed to an absent level and positions it in a scenario in which significant development is possible in the different markets” , two ideas that fit with what the citrus grower is looking for.
“There is a drop in consumption of oranges because they use more juice. Consequently, the consumption of mandarins is growing, which are easy to peel and also do not contain seeds.” And it is that the seeds are the Achilles heel of this fruit, because if the consumer finds them, their rejection increases. Avoiding them is, therefore, key so that the level of market sales does not decline.
In this regard, Aguado regrets that the Valencian market has not been able to anticipate this trend and much of the production is imported, mainly from the United States, where “the seeds are prohibited in the fruit.”
Aguado believes that, in addition to thinking about the present, you have to think about the future. “And the consumer of the future is very practical and comfortable, and prefers to eat prepared fruit.” That future consumer is also the child of the present, “and when a child picks up a clementine and finds seeds, he says that he wants another fruit, so we have to take the appropriate measures,” Aguado reasons.
The last annual report of the association contemplates that citrus fruits lost a total of 6,151 hectares of cultivation in the Valencian Community in the last year, which implies 4.1% less compared to 2021, going from 149,648 to 143,497 hectares in irrigation. “Spain is the leading world power in the commercialization of cold citrus, but it needs to do more research on varieties to achieve better solutions,” Aguado proposes.
