According to the latest survey of areas and annual crop production in the Valencian Community prepared by the Generalitat, corresponding to the year 2020, citrus fruits account for 47% of the irrigated area of the autonomous region with 159,015 hectares. The extension of crops that can be irrigated in the autonomous community amounts to 338,348 hectares, compared to 316,421 hectares of dry land.
The predominance of citrus farms in Valencia, Castellón and Alicante is maintained despite the alarming abandonment of fields during the last decade, driven by the loss of profitability of farms, the lack of generational replacement, as well as in the transformation of these citrus lands in other fruit trees or crops in search of better economic results, which has led to the loss of at least 18,000 hectares.
The report on the general distribution of land in the Valencian Community, which brings together an overall area of just over 2.32 million hectares, indicates that arable land occupies a total of 654,769 hectares.
Leader in the ranking of citrus acreage in Spain and also of uncultivated land.
Besides citrus fruits (the Region of Valencia accounts for 53% of the area in Spain), other fruit trees take second place in the Valencian ranking of irrigated cropland, with 48,001 hectares. The third place corresponds to vineyards, with 27,413 hectares, followed by vegetables (22,846 hectares).
The Region of Valencia's agricultural area decreased by 0.83% in 2020 compared to the previous year, i.e. by 1,335 hectares. Thus, Valencian producers stopped cultivating about 3.6 hectares per day.
The autonomous region also led the national ranking of uncultivated agricultural land, with 162,902 hectares. The Valencian crops that lost the most area in 2020 were vineyards, citrus fruits and persimmons (a reduction of 282 hectares was a turning point in its upward trend).
The autonomous regions that follow when it comes to uncultivated area are Castile-La Mancha (161,075 hectares), Castile-Leon (127,297 Ha), Andalusia (126,144 Ha) and Aragon (108,634 Ha), which all have a much larger geographical extension.
Source: levante-emv.com