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Difficulties in the sale of Spanish asparagus

"We considered removing the plastics and giving up on the asparagus"

Fernando Fernández, of the Spanish municipality of Pradejón, is an agricultural producer who wished to bring asparagus cultivation back in his town four years ago, as the crop had been abandoned for more than 25 years due to a lack of profitability. In his nearly three hectares, located in the municipality of Calahorra, he harvests an average of about three hundred kilos under the seal of the Protected Geographical Indication Espárrago de Navarra.

However, this product has also suffered the consequences of the current lockdown and, therefore, the difficulties to sell it. In the case of fresh asparagus, 60% of the production was intended for the catering industry.

Fernández is an essential worker in the agricultural sector who has not seen his work volume affected. The crop's price, however, has dropped by between 20 and 30%. "At the beginning of the campaign, coinciding with the start of the state of alarm, we considered removing the plastics and giving up on the asparagus, because it was very difficult to sell them."

In any case, there's still light at the end of the tunnel. "One morning, when we had already decided to tear off the protective plastics, because the situation was getting worse, the cooperative El Raso de Calahorra warned us that they had found a factory in Mendavia that would buy the asparagus." That was this Easter, so Fernando and many other producers gained some hope. "Still, as far as the price is concerned, we suspect that they have taken advantage of the situation," he says.

Bad forecasts
Salvador García, manager of the El Raso Cooperative, says that its members, "the majority of which have small farms," will manage to sell their asparagus, "although we will have to wait and see the price at which the factories and markets will buy them, as no remuneration is obtained until the end of the campaign."

"Regarding the quality of the product, the prospects are really good, but the prices are expected to be considerably lower than in previous years," says Fernando.

 

Source: nuevecuatrouno.com

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