According to estimates based on data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food (MAPA), which is still provisional until Eurostat publishes the final data, the area destined for organic agricultural production in AlmerÃa increased by 22% in 2021 over the previous year, totaling 72,341.2 hectares, 19,680.64 of which are in their conversion phase.
According to statistics, the area devoted to organic production in the province is about to be doubled when compared to 2010, as today there is 83.7% more land dedicated to organic production than 12 years ago when there were 39,374.94 hectares of organic production.
In plant production, there was an outstanding increase in hectares dedicated to permanent crops (+22.53%), especially in the production of nuts (+24.4%), which account for 47% of Almeria's total organic area with 34,063.04 hectares.
The area devoted to organic fresh vegetable production increased by 15.9% to 4,921 hectares. 4,382 hectares of this area corresponds to horticultural crops under plastic; i.e. 18.66% more than in 2020 and 391.5% more than in 2010; accounting for 78.8% of the Andalusian total.
The number of operators in the province of Almeria has increased by 20% and already reaches 4,894. This increase has occurred in almost all activities: primary producers (21.5%) and marketers (6.6%). Specifically, there are 4,675 organic producers, 119 processors, 8 importers, 12 exporters, and 80 marketers.
397 of the 424 registered organic industrial activities correspond to plant production. The handling and conservation of fruits and vegetables stand out, despite having decreased by 23.
You can check out Andalusia's data for 2021 in the Organic Production Statistics preview shared by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Source: diariodealmeria.es