The Councillor of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development of Andalusia, Rodrigo Sánchez Haro, said Sunday that "seven out of ten Spanish tomatoes exported to the European Union come from Almeria and Granada," and highlighted that "sales of Andalusian foods in foreign markets have been growing for seven years and this trend continues."
"Thanks to the efforts of thousands of producers, Almeria has become a real export power," affirmed Sánchez Haro during his speech at the "Coprohnijar Agrarian Cooperativism Days" in Níjar, Almeria, according to a statement from the regional government.
Currently, the province of Almeria is the one exporting the most foods from Andalusia, with 26 percent of the regional total. It is also the largest exporter of vegetables in Spain, accounting for 37 percent of these sales, whose value exceeds 2 billion Euro.
The Andalusian Councillor of Agriculture congratulated those at Coprohnijar for the work done, since they are an "example of how and what to do to obtain greater added value for their productions while maintaining the social values of agricultural workers and producers."
Rodrigo Sánchez has praised the capacity of this Almerian entity to "perfectly combine" the taste of the products, a good post-harvest and profitability for the producers. It thus manages to meet the demands of consumers while betting on integrated and ecological production and facilitating the marketing and export with high standards of quality and safety.
Coprohníjar, established in 1987 and recognised as an Organization of Fruit and Vegetable Producers (OPFH) in 1997, has been a pioneer in the implementation of integrated production in Almeria's tomato crops.
In fact, tomatoes stand out for the entity as the food accounting for the largest volume, with 39,000 tonnes, followed by watermelon, with about 17,000 tonnes, and courgette, with close to 900 tonnes. This cooperative has 145 partners with a total of 488 hectares and an overall production of more than 57,000 tonnes worth about 56 million Euro, according to the regional government.
Source: Europa Press