Fruit crisis continues in Catalonia

Catalan farmers are having a hard time these days. Due to the Russian veto three years ago on certain EU agricultural and food products, provoked by the European Union’s sanctions on Russia because of the Crimea conflict, the fruit market in Europe has become unbalanced.

The situation is still critical in the Lleida province in the western Catalonia. The drop in prices, a result of the production surplus, is not only reducing profits, according to local farmer organizations and unions – in some cases, it also signifies a loss of money.

This situation made them engage in intense protests this July, during which they blocked important roads and publicly threw out perfectly edible fruit, demanding the European Commission to take action in order to solve this crisis.  

20,000 tons of stone fruit to be taken off the market

Brussels has already been compensating farmers for their losses since 2014, but this summer the sector demanded that an extra 40,000 tons be taken off the market, with the corresponding compensations for producers. On August 24, the European Commission approved the withdrawal of 20,000 tons of stone fruit from the market, backdated to August 3.

Insufficient quota

The Unió de Pagesos farmers union (UP) celebrated that the Commission took action; still, the quota was automatically deemed as insufficient, as it was only half of what they asked for. The withdrawal is necessary, because the cold storage rooms are full of the products harvested from June until now. This means that the farmers cannot get the newly picked fruit off their hands.

It was already clear that the reaction from Brussels was insufficient 24 hours after the withdrawal request process was opened, in which only Catalonia almost claimed the total of the 20,000 tons quota.   

EU information does not reflect the reality

In an interview published by the ACN on Tuesday, the Catalan agriculture minister, Meritxell Serret, argues that an important issue in the conflict is that the information the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture sends to the European Commission in Brussels “does not reflect the real situation of the production levels” in Catalonia.

The Catalan minister urges all players to “keep up to date” and “articulate an efficient information system” for the European Commission to be aware of the production levels. This way, they could forecast and anticipate solutions to price crises that could collapse the market, as it is happening right now.

The Catalan agriculture minister says that the information that the Catalan ministry has on their hands since April clearly pointed out that there was a reason to be worried, as the production was forecasted to be high because of favorable climate conditions. According to Serret, it was already clear back then that “it was necessary to do everything possible to prevent this crisis situation.”

Situation in Spain’s fruit zones is not articulated clearly

According to the Catalan minister, the problem is that the information of the real production situation in Spain’s fruit zones is not articulated clearly; this does not allow the European Commission to have the maximum information possible about what is planted where, which production levels are to be expected and how are the prices changing. In this way, it is “difficult to anticipate the crisis and market’s collapse,” she says.

Catalonia has no access to the Commission

Serret says that Catalonia already articulated a well-working information system put in place to communicate the actual situation in the sweet fruit sector. However, she notes that this system is good for nothing “if the rest of the production regions do not work the same way.” And she further states that as for now “we do not have direct access to the Commission.”  Ever since the independence process began, the European Commission has been closed land to Catalonia.