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High temperatures and disease destroy 70 percent of tomato crops in the Region of Murcia
The Region of Murcia has been forced to import tomatoes to stock supermarkets
In the spring, a devastating lack of rainfall wreaked havoc on southern Spain’s production of grapes, almonds and cereals, and the ongoing drought wiped out 50,000 head of livestock. Now, the Region of Murcia is battling a new virus that threatens to decimate the tomato harvest.
It’s the time of year when supermarket shelves should be overflowing with the juicy red fruit, but many farmers in the Region have lost more than 40% of their harvest thanks to the onset of the rugose virus (ToBRFV).
A baking hot summer and unseasonably warn autumn hasn’t helped matters. With the thermometers giving no respite for 50 days and nights, the fragile tomato plants became stressed and were unable to flower. Between the heat and the virus, Remigio Ávila, responsible for the Tomato Area at the Agrarian Association of Young Farmers (Asaja) of the Region, estimates that around 70% of the tomato harvest has been lost, forcing the regional government to import the fruit from other communities.
The tomato plant virus first appeared about eight years ago in Jordan and has been spreading across the globe ever since. Spain has been affected for about two years and even Morocco, one of the main competitors in tomato production, suffers from this problem.
If these two problems were not enough, inflation has made raw materials and supplies extremely expensive. Today, a kilo of nitrate that went for 60 cents a couple of years ago now costs 1.40 euros. This means that Morocco, whose tomato production is 80% cheaper than in Spain, has been cornering market share in the EU.
While the experts don’t believe this is the end for tomato production in the area, rising temperatures and the persistence of the virus means that less land will be given over to this crop in the future.
Find all the latest weather and climate change news here or join our Murcia Weather Watch Facebook group for regular updates
Image: Freepik
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