Today, the National Association of Garlic Producers and Traders, ANPCA, has requested the State Agrarian Insurance Entity, ENESA, and the AGROSEGURO company, to extend the subscription period for the garlic insurance in the CC. AA from Castilla-La Mancha, Aragon, Catalonia and Extremadura, which currently ends on January 31, except in Aragon which ended on January 15. ANPCA requests its extension until March 1, as established for the Rest of the national Scope, due to the adverse weather conditions that it is going through at the beginning of the year.
On January 7 and later, the main garlic production area in Spain, Castilla-La Mancha, and the production areas north of this, suffered an episode of heavy snowfall with the passage of the storm Filomena and a subsequent wave of polar cold that has frozen most of this snow and made the terrain impassable. This situation has resulted in a delay in the process of sowing garlic, especially the purple variety, which is the most traditional in the Castilla-La Mancha area and the only one with Protected Geographical Indication, PGI “Ajo Morado de Las Pedroñeras ”.
Given the impossibility of carrying out the sowing, given that the lands are currently practically frozen and without the possibility of practicing them, ANPCA has requested the State Agrarian Insurance Entity, ENESA, and the AGROSEGURO insurance company, to delay in the end period subscription from January 31 as scheduled until March 1. As of January 31, it is more than likely that there is no exact knowledge of the sowing area, which means that it will not be possible to contract normally and with knowledge of the final hectares, especially of the later varieties such as the purple garlic in Castilla-La Mancha.
The 2021 campaign was developing normally until this event, with a good sowing of the earliest varieties that were already fully completed in the areas with the highest production such as Castilla-La Mancha, Andalusia and Extremadura, and it was beginning with the sowing of the later varieties, the purple variety, which was almost finished in the earliest area, Andalusia, with a slight decrease in the surface, but which in Castilla-La Mancha, somewhat later, was starting with planting. In total, it is estimated that approximately 30-25% of the total garlic area is yet to be sown.
Spanish garlic reached a total area of 27,564 hectares in 2020 according to official data, of which 19,151 corresponded to Castilla-La Mancha, 4,943 hectares. to Andalusia and 1,741 has. to Castilla y León. The total production of Spanish garlic reached 272,777 tons and was marketed in more than 232 countries, with a total of more than 143,945 tons exported according to Spanish customs.
ANPCA currently represents 1,891 producers and the 67 companies, cooperatives and organizations of producers of fruit and vegetables most important for the marketing of garlic in Spain, which together account for 78% of the total production marketed in our country, reaching an area of cultivation of 15,850 hectares accredited in this past 2020 campaign. These figures make this Association a benchmark in the sector, both in terms of marketing and production in Spain and Europe.
