The Valencian Association of Farmers (AVA-ASAJA) renewed its collaboration agreement with naranjasyfrutas.com, a digital platform that connects producers with businesses for free to facilitate the sale and purchase of all kinds of fresh crops, especially citrus, persimmon, avocado, pomegranate, and stone fruit crops.
The outbreak of the pandemic has increased electronic commerce in agriculture, just like it did in other economic sectors. An enlightening example is naranjasyfrutas.com, which in 2021 saw a 44% increase in the number of published harvests by farmers throughout Spain. In this sense, AVA-ASAJA will continue to provide its support as a professional agricultural organization to improve the services that the portal offers to producers and to consolidate the online sale of agricultural products at decent prices.
Since naranjasyfrutas.com was born in 2012, both the farmers who advertise their harvests and the businesses that look for them have increased their visits to this site to more than 100,000 per year. It currently registers 3,830 productions and a total of 269 businesses. In addition, professionals receive weekly reports of the latest advertisements published.
One of the novelties that the site launched in 2021 was that it would send producers and buyers updated lists by varieties. During this citrus campaign, 5,346 listings have been sent by email and 747 by WhatsApp with data on the Oronules, Mioro, Clemenules, Clemenvilla, Hernandina, Navelina, Nadorcott, Tango, and Navel Late varieties.
The listings provide commercial operators with the volume of kilos available, let them know if they have any certificates, when the harvest started, the location of the crops, and the producers' contact details. The digital platform also incorporated a map where users can visualize the location of the crops and that can also be used to make searches.
naranjasyfrutas.com also has agreements with the Citricos Valencianos Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) to promote citrus fruits with certification of origin, with the Spanish Kaki Association, which has 45 companies associated and accounts for 52% of the national production, and with ASOCIEX, an association that brings together the main citrus fruit trading and exporting companies in Castellon. It has also initiated contacts with the Ministry of Agriculture of the Generalitat Valenciana to seek possible collaborations that facilitate relations with the agricultural sector.