Spain: cotton crop at record low
Spain's cotton production for 2008 looks set to be at a record low level, with reports from the country suggesting that the local cotton industry could be in terminal decline.
UPA, an organisation representing small-scale farmers, has said that the total 2008 crop is likely to be under 100,000 tonnes, a huge drop from only two years ago when the figure reached 350,000 tonnes.
The regional branch of UPA for Andalusia, in the south of Spain, where almost all Spanish cotton is grown, said there were three main reasons for such a steep drop.
Farmers there sowed around 50,000 hectares of cotton this year, whereas the annual total until 2005 was nearer 100,000. Even last year, around 65,000 hectares in the south of Spain were sown with cotton seeds. In 2005, a change in agricultural aid came into force, which has discouraged small-scale farmers from producing cotton.
The other factors are that farmers have found it difficult to keep the 50,000 hectares of cotton sufficiently irrigated, owing to lack of rainfall and restrictions on agricultural use of the waters in the River Guadalquivir, and, especially, the proliferation of pests, especially the larvae of the heliothis genus of moths. Farmers in Andalusia have complained that they have been prevented from tackling these pests in the traditional way because of restrictions on the use of pesticides imposed by the European Union.
For these reasons, the output will be lower than usual, with the authorities estimating around 1,500 kilos of cotton per hectare, compared to 1,900 kilos in 2007.
