Spanish citrus growers in the region of Valencia have dumped over 120 tonnes of fruit outside branches of German discounters Aldi and Lidl to protest over a “crisis” in prices that they claim is forcing many producers out of business.
Around 300 producers took part in the protest on 13 January in Alfafar, close to the city of Valencia, where clementines and oranges were dumped to highlight what they claimed was the retailers’ “totalitarian attitude”.
The protest, jointly organised by Spanish fresh produce unions La Unió, AVA and UPA, forms part of a campaign of demonstrations being staged by Valencia’s citrus sector to draw attention to the “income crisis” that producers are suffering.
However, it is not just growers in Valencia who are concerned about the development of the present season. Murcian growers’ union Asaja Murcia has released a statement highlighting its “great worry” about the “major pricing crisis” that is affecting the 2011/12 citrus campaign.
Asaja Murcia general secretary, Alfonso Gálvez Caravaca, said poor prices being paid for citrus this season were “seriously damaging growers’ incomes and provoking the abandonment of many citrus groves in Murcia region”.
La Unió general secretary, Ramón Mampel, will meet with the Valencian regional minister of agriculture on 17 January to raise growers’ concerns, but has warned that if no solution is forthcoming the union will stage “much more forceful” protests.
