The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development, María González Corral, has highlighted today the leading role of Castilla y León in the production of strawberry plants and their transformation, to which is now also added the obtaining of the fruit directly in greenhouses.
Castilla y León, with 35 nurseries producing strawberry plants and an area of 1,500 hectares, It is the leading producer in Europe with about 950 million plants per year. “The climatic conditions of the Community together with the experience and professionalism of the producers have allowed us to be absolute references for such a unique crop of high economic value,” said González Corral during a work day in the Carracillo region, in Segovia. , one of the main producing areas of the Community.
Community nurseries the production campaign is ending these days which consists of harvesting the plants that have been grown and multiplied in fields in the provinces of Segovia, Ávila, Valladolid and Soria during the summer for their transplantation and subsequent fruiting in fields and greenhouses in other latitudes.
Fresh plant production (87% of the total) is mainly destined for Andalusia and the European Union, mainly Italy and Greece. Almost a third of the fresh plant is sent to third countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Jordan and, less significantly, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru and Georgia. As for the plant kept in cold storage until December, Algeria and Brazil concentrate more than 60% of exports, but it also reaches other countries such as Egypt, Argentina, Uruguay, Armenia and China.
Technical day with the sector
The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development learned about the challenges of the sector during a technical conference organized by the Agrarian Technological Institute of Castilla y León (Itacyl) that was held in Chañe, Segovia, and the subsequent visit to fields and facilities of the companies Viveros Campiñas, Mumu and Ideal Fruits to learn about the start-up of the strawberry plant and its processing, as well as the fruit packaging lines for sale to the consumer.
“The strawberry sector is an example of how specialization in agriculture generates wealth and employment in rural areas. The concern of entrepreneurs and the commitment to quality allow us to activate the economy of our municipalities and bring the name of Castilla y León to numerous European countries and other continents,” stated González Corral.
Among the main challenges of the sector is the search for alternatives for soil disinfection in which the strawberry plant is grown. To this end, Itacyl has been working on different research projects. The most recent, whose final results have not yet been published, consisted of an EAFRD project for new strategies in disinfection, with 141,000 euros. Along with this, another Horizon Europe project has been launched, called BioVIVE, which will run until 2028 with 356,000 euros to search for biosolutions to control pathogens in horticultural crops. In total, since 2003, Itacyl has allocated 1.4 million to finance different projects to improve the competitiveness of the strawberry sector in Castilla y León.
Along with improvements in crop management, the Junta de Castilla y Léon also works in different fields of the agri-food conservation and transformation industry. Exactly, Itacyl, through its Innovative Processes and Products Plant, has worked in the last decade on the development and technological application of various strategies to extend the useful life of the strawberry without modifying the sensory properties. Among others, the work carried out with edible packaging coatings to prevent the deterioration of the strawberry stands out. Likewise, other projects try to make profitable the surplus of this fruit through the use of dehydration or gelation technologies, giving rise to high-value products.
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