“The weather is becoming more extreme and we are not able to produce as before”, explains Carles Peris, general secretary of the Union of Farmers and Cattlemen, from the Valencian Community. The problem is the same in Murcia and Andalusia, which have historically been the biggest suppliers of watermelons in Spain. The consequence for the markets is less watermelon available, and more expensive.
The search for alternatives has led wholesalers to look for national producers, but in other regions that were not the usual ones, they specify from Mercabarna to this newspaper. They use last week’s data on seeded watermelons as an example to illustrate this. They came, in order of volume, from Castellón, Ciudad Real, Segovia, Murcia, Almeria, Valencia and Alicante. Normally, Murcia would be the second; Ciudad Real and Segovia replace it.
Four hundred thousand kilos in total, to which it would be necessary to add another four hundred thousand that came from Morocco; half and half “If we talk about percentages, they are numbers maintained, also for the last campaign, so no, it cannot be said that there has been an increase in imports from Morocco due to the problem of national production”, they point out from the market. Peris, for his part, considers that it will be necessary to wait for the data at the end of the campaign to check whether the import has increased.
Watermelon cultivation is done from south to north, Andalusia is the first. There, the drought and the spring rains have been the two factors that have most affected the crops, they explain from Asaja Andalusia. “The drought left part of the surface unsown, and much of the part that was cultivated was greatly affected by these rains”, they specify. The loss of watermelon cultivation, in Almeria alone, is 2,500 hectares.
In the Valencian Community, the weather was also the factor that most influenced production. A drop of 52% which, from the Union, is attributed to the high temperatures during the planting season, the intermittent rains in May and June, the hailstorms in June and the widespread drought.
“What influences it the most is that it is not making the temperature it touches when it touches. The blooms are dividing and, in the end, the fruit does not develop. The plant aborts it”, argues Peris. The losses in this region due to these factors are estimated to be 44 million euros for producers of watermelons (27 million) and melons (17 million). And even though producers began to be paid better at the beginning of the campaign – by 60% -, in many cases this increase continues without being able to compensate for the losses and the increase in costs.
In addition, in this autonomous community, there is a problem with wildlife. This is how Peris explains it: “The wild boars are entering the melon fields. Mothers go in front, their children behind. They trample and eat melons, the loss is double”. Although its impact is more specific, this factor is a particularly intense problem in the Baix Maestrat and the Plana Baixa, both in Castelló.
From the Union of Farmers and Ranchers they add that the market is expected to balance, at least a little, next month. “The offer will be better, because the biggest drop in production was in the melons that were planted first, which suffered more adverse weather”, he explains. However, demand is also expected to remain high, both in Spain and in Europe, due to the heat.