The production of rock pear this year, starts with breaks between 15 and 25% due to the heat of this month, and should be between 180 to 190 thousand tons, down 210 thousand previous, estimated the association of the sector.
"We had a forecast of a 9% drop compared to the previous harvest, but with the scald of August 03 and August 4, a break of 15 to 25% is expected [now]," Lusa Domingos dos Santos, president of the National Association of Producers of Pera Rocha (ANP), which represents the sector. He explained that "the heat burned the fruit that was most exposed to the sun and it was soon unable to be marketed." In addition, the "heat shock created such a high heat shock that it slowed the growth of the fruit," he said.
Producers fear that the growth of the fruit may have stagnated and that therefore it will begin to ripen sooner, getting smaller sizes and reducing the amount of production, which should be between 180 and 190 thousand tons below of the 210 thousand of the previous campaign. The harvest mobilizes more than 50 thousand workers.
The sector is finding it harder to hire seasonal workers, not only because of the delay in the start of the campaign as the students' holiday ends, but also because of the "bureaucratic burden" that exists. The alternative is to recruit foreign workers, says the ANP official. "As the harvest of the red fruits was in the spring, some of these workers come to the rock pear and to the vines. We have African and Asian workers, namely from Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal and former Burma (Myanmar), "he said.
However, explained the leader, the process with the Aliens and Borders Service takes six or seven months. "How do I go in February to hire people when not even the trees have leaves, nor flowers and I do not know what my production will be," he said. Of the 210 thousand tons produced in the previous campaign, the sector exported 92 thousand, up from 54 thousand in the 2016/2017 campaign, and earned 80 million euros. "The appreciation was far below expectations due to several factors, among them the excess of fruit in the markets and lack of organization of the production of the sector, which ends up not achieving more profitable prices," he said.
Brazil, the United Kingdom, Morocco, France and Germany are the top five destination markets for this fruit. The ANP has five thousand associated producers, with a production area of ??11 thousand hectares. Rock pear is produced (99%) in the municipalities between Mafra and Leiria, with the highest production being those of Cadaval and Bombarral. The rock pear of the West has Protected Denomination of Origin, a recognition of the quality of the Portuguese fruit by the European Union.
