The area devoted to sweet potato cultivation in Spain continues to fall sharply due to a lack of profitability; a result of high costs and Egypt's dominance in European markets in recent years. This loss of competitiveness of the sweet potato sector in Spain has resulted in the closure of Viveros Santana, which was once one of Europe's main producers of sweet potato plants.
"In the last two years alone, the area planted with sweet potatoes in Spain has been reduced by around 60%," says Francisco Javier Santana, former Sales Director of Viveros Santana, which recently closed its doors after more than 48 years producing sweet potato plants and taking part in innovation and production improvement projects, as well as breeding programs for new varieties.
"The sweet potato sector is in a dramatic situation, both because of the shortage of water and personnel (given that it is a labor-intensive crop) and because of the drop in sales volumes and the lower profitability in the face of rising costs. Egypt has gained a lot of ground in record time, with exports out of control and prices that are impossible to compete with," says Santana.
"As a consequence of this, the European production is increasingly smaller and there is less demand for plants, and this has led us to close our company, which at one point was the largest sweet potato plant nursery in Europe, exporting to almost every corner of the world," says Santana.
"Many growers are giving up on sweet potatoes, and with such a small volume, it is no longer a profitable investment for us. Nobody can even imagine how expensive it is to produce sweet potato plants complying with all the certifications and quality standards," he says.
Egyptian sweet potatoes enjoy a dominant position in the market at the moment, now that the production has reached its peak. In Spain, the first sweet potatoes started to be harvested in August, although now is when volumes are becoming truly significant, as the season has been delayed due to a severe drought at the time of planting.
"Until this past spring, we had a very dry year, so many growers, faced with the uncertainty of whether they'd be able to irrigate their fields or not, decided not to plant; however, at the end of April, we had some rain in southern Spain, which allowed a recovery of water levels in the reservoirs and for water to be allocated for irrigation, which once again boosted the demand for plants. Therefore, the Spanish sweet potato harvest is coming late this year, as there weren't any significant volumes until early September, and the peak in the production is expected to be reached from October onwards," says Francisco Javier Santana, who also produces and exports sweet potatoes.
For more information:
Francisco Javier Santana
Tel.: +34 637 566 441