The cultivation of green beans has been relegated to something “anecdotal”, after becoming the second most important in the southeast of the country; Its future was distorted due to labor costs and, now, other crops are following in its footsteps while the sector saves seeds to revitalize its uses. High labor costs, competition with third countries and the ability to withstand the post-harvest period cause certain fruit and vegetable crops to see their number of hectares decrease.
This is the case of the bean, a product that, in the opinion of the head of fruits and vegetables of the Coordinator of Farmers and Livestock Organizations (COAG), Andrés Góngora, has been relegated to an “anecdotal” production after reaching a strong presence in the 80s.
According to the latest data available from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA), the cultivation of green beans has gone from being present in 12,200 hectares throughout the country in 2009 to 7,272 hectares in 2022. And the decline has continued in 2023, since the Ministry’s provisional figures point to a drop in the cultivated area of ??this product that would take it to 6,883 hectares in total.
Currently, the autonomous community that allocates the most surface area to the cultivation of this fruit is Andalusia, with a total of 1,495 hectares, followed by Galicia, with 1,385 hectares, and the least Cantabria, with barely 1 hectare and Madrid, with none.
The reduction in surface area is accompanied by a drop in production. Ministry figures indicate a gradual decline: from 196,000 tons in 2009 to 134,100 tons in 2022 and to around 124,200 tons in 2023, according to the latest data from MAPA.
As the head of COAG explains in an interview with Efeagro, bean cultivation has been especially harmed by the cost of labor, since it is a production that requires “very manual” work, he noted. Working conditions have also caused competition with third countries to emerge.
In this sense, Góngora highlights the case of Morocco and considers that the neighboring country has displaced Spain in the cultivation of this product: “Many companies went to produce this legume there.”
In the 80s, green beans were the second most important crop in the southeast of the country, he recalls, although its evolution has been declining, since in the 90s “a little less” was produced, in favor of an increase in peppers and, now, has remained something “practically anecdotal.”
The production cost of labor can also jeopardize the cultivation of other products such as cherry tomatoes or mini peppers which, although they are not in the same situation as green beans, could have complications due to the demands they require. its collection, Góngora emphasizes.
However, the reduction in the crop surface is not only affected by the labor capacity demanded by the product, but the food’s own ability to “withstand the post-harvest” also takes on a relevant role in this issue, and the example is given by case of cucumber, which dehydrates “very quickly.”
Or the consumption habit itself, as in the case of the yellow peach, which has been relegated to the background due to the increase in consumption of the red variety; and the same can happen with watermelon, a product that is no longer consumed with seeds, notes Góngora.
Cases such as that of the green bean serve as an example to illustrate the loss of varieties and seeds that the field faces, either for structural reasons, such as in this case work capacity, or for others that occur on a smaller scale. .
In this sense, many small product crops do not have the determined parameters to be suitable for commercialization in the food industry, therefore, and aggravated by the lack of generational coverage, the seeds with which these producers have been working for years can be lost. .
This is where the role of the germplasm bank launched by the Madrid Institute of Rural, Agrarian and Food Research and Development (Imidra) comes into play, a space dedicated to searching and analyzing these varieties that could disappear in order to, in addition to preserving them, adapt them to a commercial use.
The head of the horticultural service of the Ministry of Environment, Agriculture and Interior of the Community of Madrid, María Victoria Colombo Rodríguez, explains to Efeagro that, so far, there are about 200 varieties in this bank.
The germplasm bank may contain genes that at the time were not of “interest in industrial agriculture” but that, now in an environment of climate change, become relevant, as they may lead to better adaptation to climatic conditions, pests, and even , to the use of certain phytosanitary products.
