The melocon and the nectaria de murcia to debate

This Wednesday took place at the meeting of the Contact Group of Peach and Nectarine of the Joint Committee of Fruits and Vegetables formed by France, Spain, Italy and Portugal, organized by the Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of the Region (Fecoam) and the Association of Producers-Exporters of Fruits, Table Grapes and Other Agricultural Products (Apoexpa).

The day, held at the headquarters of the Cajamar Group, is part of the meetings created within the joint committee of the four countries and whose objective is to be a forum for dialogue to analyze the main problems affecting production to propose joint solutions .

At the meeting the last campaign in our country was analyzed, concluding that although the expectations for the lack of harvest were good, “in the end the objectives were not met, mainly due to the pressure of the large distribution”, they have explained from Apoexpa and Fecoam.
“For this year, an increase of 6% is expected over the production of last year, although this does not mean but does not mean an increase due to the losses that were recorded by frost and other factors,” they added.

In addition, the campaign has begun, according to the assistants, “of negative form by causes as the climatology in Europe, that has done that by the registered low temperatures not be consumed still fruit of bone and summer, if not that it is followed with the tendency to buy winter campaign products such as oranges or tangerines “. They have also referred to the significant increase in costs in production, such as labor, clothing, packaging, transportation, which is compounded by “the bad prices because of the large distributors,” they note.

For all these reasons, the sector has decided to ask the Ministry of Agriculture to activate crisis management measures to attend and give out these products. Likewise, the different countries participating in the meeting have shared the actions to reactivate the sector that they are carrying out, as is the case of the national promotion campaign through an interprofessional in Spain.

“In spite of the bad results of the last campaigns, from the stone fruit sector we are trying to take out projects that encourage consumption through promotion,” said Fecoam and Apoexpa.

The Joint Committee on Fruits and Vegetables is constituted by representatives of the production and marketing of the four states with representation and has the support of the administrations of these countries to address issues that affect the sector.

In the international meeting, with a great attendance of experts of the sector, they have been represented by Spain, the Spanish Federation of Associations of Producers Exporters of Fruits, Vegetables, Flowers and Live Plants (Fepex); Cooperatives Agroalimentarias of Spain, as well as of the agricultural organizations of the sector like Fecoam and Apoexpa.