8 challenges for the future of pistachio in Spain
In the next 20 years, Europe will need to increase its pistachio acreage by 300,000 hectares to avoid imports, due to the rise in consumption and the development of the industry associated to this crop. It is an opportunity for the Spanish sector in case it overcome all pending challenges.
Interest in pistachio continues growing in Spain. Currently there are 25,000 hectares producing 3,000 tons, double that of the previous year.
Spurred by its profitability and by the improvement this crop offers to rain fed lands, the only obstacle which seems to contain pistachio expansion is the large initial investment it requires, "between 5,000 and 6,000 euro per hectare, bearing in mind that it takes 6 years for this tree to produce", José F. Couceiro, from IRIAF -the agricultural research center of the government of Castilla-La Macha, says. It is this region that has the most hectares planted, 20,000 out of the 25,000.
Given such positive data, it is worth asking about the real possibilities of this crop, whether it is a promise of future for Spain or it is only a passing bubble.
Couceiro explains that "it is definitely a great opportunity for the country". "Currently, to meet the demand of the European continent and avoid exports some 120,000 hectares would be missing, having now only 40,000, of which half are Spanish". The forecasts are even better, according to this expert. "In the next 20 years, Europe will need to increase its pistachio acreage by 300,000 hectares to avoid imports, due to the rise in consumption and the development of the industry associated to this crop".
To this data it should be added that the US and Iran, the two largest world producers, have some agronomic problems.
For José F. Couceiro, a growing demand linked to the problems of the major producing countries are a good basis to believe in the future of pistachio if Spain manages to overcome the "eight challenges": (1) plantations in more suitable areas regarding climate and soil, (2) greater control over the plant material that growers buy, (3) betting on organic production, (4) giving top priority to quality, (5) stimulating consumption based on its healthy properties, (6) improvement of processing, (7) development of an adjacent industry (from ice creams to cosmetics), and (8) moving forward in research: "we still do not know enough about the crop and we still have problems to solve as pests and diseases and we need to invest in the development of new varieties and new rootstocks".
Source: eleconomista.es