According to the first estimates made by Afrucat after the closure of the Urgell Canal, this closure will lead to a 58% decrease in the harvest of Catalonia's apple harvest (173,000 t), a 52% drop in pear production (74,000 t), and the disappearance of 30% of the total fruit that Catalonia would harvest this season (284,000 t).
With more than 8,600 hectares affected by the lack of irrigation, the closure of the canal would leave 39 municipalities without water. As a result, the municipality of Torregrossa would lose almost 26 million kilos of fruit (including 14 million kilos of apples); Bellpuig, more than 20 million kilos of fruit (18 million kilos of apples); Miralcamp, 18 million kilos of fruit (12 million kilos of apples); Tornabous, 16 million (12 million kilos of apples), and Golmés, 16 million (13 million kilos of apples).
“The direct consequences of these losses will translate into a loss of turnover of approximately 350 million euro and direct losses for our sector of about 164 million euro, more than 114 million of which are already invested in the fields or will be needed to remove the fruit trees to ensure their survival; the rest will be used to maintain the structures of some processing plants that, for the second consecutive year, will have to remain inactive,” stated Manel Simon, CEO of Afrucat.
"We must also take into account that the economic impact that the closure would have for the entire territory and for all the links of the chain could reach 600 million euro," Simon stated.
Afrucat will ask the government to request the EU's authorization to provide sufficient 'state aid' to cover economic losses.
According to Simon, there would still be two fundamental issues to be solved, the request for exceptionality for the calculation of Agroseguro coverages and the flexibility in the calculation of the CPV (Commercialised Production Value) of the operational programs that shouldn't take into account this year's low production. This value would greatly limit the investment capacity and CMO aid for the coming years.
At the moment, the harvest of 30% of the Girona apple is also in doubt due to the drought, which together with the effects caused by the closure of the Urgell Canal would Catalonia's apple harvest to drop by about 67%.
Zero Water Scenario. The Death of Trees
Another possibility being assessed is that there isn't enough irrigation to maintain the trees. "In this case, we would be talking about the death of the plantations and some 600 million euro, which includes the cost of replanting the crops plus the losses producers would have for 3 to 4 years until the trees entered into production," stated the director general of Afrucat.
For more information:
Afrucat
www.afrucat.com