Recent rainfall combined with low pricing in previous seasons is likely to mean a smaller later crop of melons from Almeria.
“Over the last few years the acreage given over to production of melons and watermelons has decreased,” said a spokeswoman for Hortyfruta, which represents growers and exporters of fresh produce in the whole of Andalucia. “The reasons are various but the main one is the low prices over the last few seasons as well as the more general economic crisi,s which means that some growers have preferred to extend production of their winter crops - capsicum and tomatoes - or put in a second cycle of crops such as courgette or cucumber rather than make the investment required to plant melon or watermelon.”
Strong pricing levels for these winter lines have also led growers to want to stretch their crops’ marketing window as far as possible.
“Over the past month we have had a lot of cloudy days and low temperatures,” said the spokeswoman. “According to weather forecasters, these sort of conditions are likely to continue into early April so that low light levels will mean first arrivals of melon and watermelon will not be until the end of April or in early May.
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