Frosts and storms delay the green asparagus campaign
The green asparagus campaign has been delayed for 15 days this year as a result of the storms and frosts that took place in Spain in the first weeks of January. In addition, at Easter the weather has not favored the cultivation so production has been affected.
Por Bárbara Aguayo Martínez, periodista agroalimentaria (@BarbaraAguayoM3)
The start of the asparagus harvest begins at the beginning of April, but this year the weather has not accompanied for this reason the green asparagus harvest has not occurred in the expected time.
Javier Trujillo, president of (COSAFRA) Cooperativa Agrícola San Franc
isco of Granada, points out that “this year the campaign is quite late due to the frosts we have had.
As a consequence, our production this year will be 10% lower, from 2 million kg to 1.8 million kg.
On the other hand, from UPA Granada, Unión de Pequeños Agricultores y Ganaderos de Granada, assure that the production of green asparagus in the province has suffered “a hard setback”, since the low temperatures and the extraordinarily dry year have caused a significant decrease in the product and that it “has a lower caliber than other years.” So from the organization they estimate the losses during this campaign at 25 million euros for farmers.
Granada, capital of asparagus
Granada is the province with the largest area devoted to the cultivation of this vegetable. According to the Agro-alimentary Cooperatives of Granada, during the four months of the campaign some 33,000 tons of green asparagus are produced (according to 2020 data), 67% of the total produced in Andalusia.
Most of these vegetables travel mainly to France and Germany, although Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Holland and Italy are also exported, reaching more and more places. In total, around 75 percent of Andalusian production is marketed outside of our borders.
COSAFRA expects to recover production in the month of May as temperatures will improve and allow the recovery of 5% of what was lost in previous months, as stated by the president of the cooperative, Javier Trujillo, who assures that “prices have risen around € 1 / kg compared to the previous year “
