Considering that the avocado is the cause of all the evils of agriculture in the Algarve and a crop that consumes an enormous amount of water, in the opinion of Amílcar Duarte, is a mistake. “It’s a fantasy that someone invented and that multiplies in cafes, on social networks and, in some cases, in the media, and that does not correspond at all to the truth”, maintains the professor at the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Algarve .
The researcher, with a doctorate in agricultural sciences, has been working in this area and guarantees that the avocado orchards, which represent around 2,600 hectares, around 8% of the entire agricultural area in the region, spend little more than the citrus fruits that are the “face” of irrigation culture in the Algarve.” For the same technical rigor [de rega] avocado trees can consume slightly more water than citrus fruits, but 10% at the most”, he explains. However, he emphasizes that avocado orchards are betting on modern systems and “more rigorous irrigation”, as these plants cannot have water to more. According to the lecturer, the University of Algarve in collaboration with the Regional Directorate of Agriculture is carrying out a study to promote more efficient irrigation of orchards with irrigated crops, analyzing the stages of fruit growth and needs of water for each step.
Faced with water scarcity and a situation of severe and extreme drought that is being experienced in the Algarve and Alentejo, the Minister of Agriculture announced yesterday that within a few days an order will be published that “does not authorize more permanent crops (olive groves, avocados and red fruits)” in these two regions.
Amílcar Duarte considers that this is a simplistic and wrong view.” The Ministry of Agriculture and the Minister, instead of trying to solve the problem by trying to make there be more water, (…) solve the problem by prohibiting irrigated crops “, laments. “So where can we cultivate irrigated land, in the Azores where it rains?”, he asks ironically.
The professor from the University of Algarve adds that this measure cannot be generalized and recalls that there are places in the Alentejo and Algarve that are within irrigation perimeters and have enough water for permanent crops.
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2023-05-24 13:18:00