The economic crisis may be hitting many sectors of the Spanish economy hard, but evidence has emerged that the country’s fresh produce industry has continued to prosper in spite of the present climate of financial uncertainty.
According to data from local authorities in the southern district of El Ejido, located in the Andalusian province of Almería, construction of new greenhouses has increased by 100 per cent over the past two years.
Figures from the local council of El Ejido – a district that has the largest concentration of glasshouses in Almería – have revealed that it granted 146 permits for construction of new greenhouses, covering some 156ha, last year, reports ideal.es.
Of this, 130 permits were granted to new glasshouses to be built on existing sites, with the remainder accounted for by completely new projects.
This compares with authorisations for 10 greenhouses in 2007 covering 16.4ha and 9 glasshouses covering 13.7ha the year before.
Jorge Viseras, El Ejido’s councillor for agriculture and the environment, said the number of permits granted last year for new-build and modernisation work showed the “enormous hard work” of the region’s growers “to fight for their agriculture and their future”.
