Murcians clean up their act

Growers in Murcia are to benefit from a three-year €10 million (£7.4m) budget to develop the Spanish region’s clean agriculture programme.

President of the region of Murcia, Ramon Luis Valcárcel Siso, right, said this week that further efforts are to be made to provide fresh produce customers with improvements in Murcia’s fresh produce, logistics and services, and to improve co-ordination of production and marketing.

Fruit and vegetable exports from the region reached €1.5 billion in 2006, Valcárcel Siso said - amounting to 36 per cent of total Murcian exports, and around 20 per cent of all national fresh produce exports. “The fruit industry is a major part of Murcia’s regional identity, and now growers are realising the importance of adhering to quality standards,” he said. “The EU is in the process of renewing agricultural policies, which will definitely affect our sector, but we have to help our farmers take care of their land and protect their water supplies. Using the latest technology, our growers are working to preserve the environment and maintain their natural resources.”

At a separate seminar during Fruit Logistica, Murcia’s grape and stonefruit producers’ and exporters’ association, Apoexpa, also outlined its efforts as part of the clean agriculture programme. Murcia produces 40 per cent of Spanish grapes, said regional minister of agriculture Antonio Cerdá Cerdá, and recognises the need to lead the way on environment-friendly practices. “Murcia was a pioneer in biological controls and mating disruption as far back as 1989, and we are co-operating with farmers to meet objectives of guaranteeing food safety and minimising chemical applications by introducing biological methods across the region,” he said.

“Nearly 4,000 hectares of the 5,700ha of land under grapes is already in the programme and, by the end of 2008, we hope that 100 per cent of the grape area will be covered. Already, by using biological controls, we have reduced chemical inputs by 60 per cent.”