According to UPA Huelva, nearly 6,000 hectares will be devoted to berry production for the next season, i.e., basically the same area as in the past season. This upcoming season, however, will be conditioned by the uncertainty regarding rains and use of water, stated the secretary of the organization in Huelva, Manuel Piedra.
The last campaign ended with a 25% reduction of water endowments compared to other years, he stated.
"It is true that the Board has spoken with us about this problem. We belong to the Tinto-Odiel-Piedras basin, and, in principle, there will be no reductions. However, they warned us that this restriction can be increased if it does not rain. The water year begins in October, and if it doesn't rain or it doesn't rain much in autumn, things will get complicated, and we'll have restrictions," he said.
Moreover, Piedra said that they can't propose a reduction in hectares due to the fixed and production expenses of the crop. "Logically, we can't produce less because the numbers simply wouldn't add up."
"We must supply the product from December until the end of the campaign, as we do every year," he said. "Otherwise, we leave the market empty, without production, and other countries will come and enter our commercial market."
"The responsible thing is for Huelva to aim to produce one hundred percent of the production. Logically, however, everything will depend on the amount of rainfall there is in October, November, December, and January."
In this regard, Piedra said that they are looking for alternatives, such as the pilot project that Freshuelva is carrying out with the Port of Huelva to "desalinate water with minimum cost at the foot of the sea" until the Alcolea dam and the splitting of the San Silvestre Tunnel, "which is already under tender," are completed. These works, together with Huelva's Water Ring of the Sierra and the Trigueros channel, "would be an important help to be able to store water when it starts to rain."
Source: huelvainformacion.es