The citrus harvest in the Spanish province of Castellon has been carried out at a quicker pace recently, given the possibility of more rainfall this weekend, which "could cause a lot of damage," as confirmed by sources from the agricultural organizations.
In fact, the long rainy period of the past few days has caused considerable losses for the sector, with Clemenules orchards where it won't be possible to harvest any fruit.
The harvest is moving quicker, although also with difficulties due to the great demand for oranges ahead of the Christmas period, mainly, in the European market.
The president of the Provincial Producers' Federation of Castellon (Fepac-Asaja), Néstor Pascual, explained that "the harvesting process has accelerated a lot, although the excessive humidity in the fields early in the morning prevents the pickers from being able to start working until very late in the day, with the working day being also shortened by the earlier nightfall."
Setbacks
Another setback is the fact that "many orchards have been subject to fungicide treatments, and we must wait for the sanitary deadlines to be met." Moreover, there are quite a few insured plots with damages from previous storms which "are unable to do anything until an expert visits them, but the experts are currently overwhelmed because of all the damage there has been in Valencia," he said.
The general secretary of the Unió de Llauradors, Ramón Mampel, confirmed that they are trying to "harvest as much citrus fruit as possible," and also noted that "we must wait and see what happens, but if it rains again, the situation could become even worse." Mampel stressed that "there has been no wind after the heavy rains and the humidity has not dried, so there is still fruit getting spoiled in a context where there is still a lot of Clemenules left to be harvested."
As regards the remaining citrus varieties, which will arrive later, there are also concerns about the weather conditions possibly taking a toll on their production and quality.
Source - elperiodicomediterraneo.com
