Spanish fresh produce association Asaja Murcia has described the prospects for this year’s melon campaign in the south-eastern region of Murcia as “very promising”, with growers confident of a high quality crop during the season.
The favourable climate over recent months has contributed greatly to what the Murcia-based organisation described as a campaign that was likely to be “very satisfactory” for both producers and marketers.
Murcia region produces an annual average of 220,000 tonnes of melons, primarily the dark-skinned Piel de Sapo variety, over a total surface area of 6,000ha, a figure that is equivalent to 20 per cent of the total production area of Spain.
In a statement, Asaja Murcia’s general secretary, Alfonso Gálvez Caravaca, said: “Melons are a product that are an important part of our region’s agriculture with very developed distribution chains and for this reason they are profitable for our producers.”
However, he warned that given the highly competitive nature of the melon market, the Spanish sector needed to “urgently improve its offer and promote its to the highest degree”.
