Good harvest ahead for almonds

Although our almond trees have received scant attention since Sharon has been sick they still seem to be reasonably well laden with almonds this year.

Almond trees don´t take much looking after – at least compared with crops such as lettuces and tomatoes. Almonds are hardy and about the only things practical on un-irrigated land such as ours.

This year the predictions for the almond crop in the Murcia region are very good and it may even reach a record. This will be very welcome after five or six poor years where crops have been disappointing, due to droughts, pollination problems and frosts at the key stage when the nuts are developing.

Experts are predicting that the crop could reach more than 12,000 tonnes, close to the previous record of 13,000 tonnes set in 1999. Murcia has some 69,000 hectares under cultivation for almonds with an estimated 15 million trees. There are large growing almonds with irrigation and small farmers without irrigation whose trees fill every spare corner of land. Plenty of rain earlier this year has helped the almonds a lot.

The almonds look like they will be big and fat this year and the production rate per hectare in Murcia is forecast to be 176 kilos per hectare, compared with the national average of 138 kilos. Murcia produces more almonds than any other region in Spain. The biggest player in the international almond market, however, is California where huge agribusinesses produce vast quantities.

Meanwhile, the outlook for peach producers is not nearly so good. Better than expected crops in Greece have meant that international prices have been depressed and Murcia peach farmers are very gloomy. Last year they received 33 cents per kilo of peaches from purchasers, many of whom use the fruit in jams and other preserves. This year, it looks like the price will be forced down to between 26 and 30 cents. Farmers are claiming that costs have rocketed and the production cost for peaches in Murcia is now said to be 60 cents per kilos.

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©Phillip Bruce 2009.