Garlic of Aceuchal: shortage of land and water

As is well known, the Garlic of Aceuchal have become an indispensable ingredient in the Spanish table. This is due to the great benefits in terms of health and the excellent flavor they provide to meals when used as a condiment for food.

Now, what is not so nice about this story is that the Aceuchal Garlics require optimal conditions to be harvested and the most important are the soil and water. These conditions have been greatly affected today because garlic should not be replanted once harvested, as well as no other species belonging to the liliaceae family. Therefore, new land is always required for the planting of this bulb.

As evidenced by the article “The garlic of Aceuchal is left without land” that can be obtained in the following link: hoy.es, the shortage of land and water to plant garlic is accompanied by an absence of labor to cut in the field and to work in the collection and manufacturing campaigns in the so-called “Ciudad del Ajo” which lasts from two weeks to twenty days.

This is an alarming situation because Spain produces 50% of the garlic consumed in Europe and specifically the Aceuchal population produces 6 million kilos of garlic to supply the national and international market. These figures are handled by Juan Morelo, who is the manager of the Cooperativa Extremeña de los Ajos de Aceuchal, S.C. which currently has modern facilities, guaranteeing the completion of products such as fresh garlic on the head, garlic paste and natural peeled garlic.

On the other hand, it is taken into account that, although land and water are scarce for the production of garlic of Aceuchal in Spain, they have been opened to new fields belonging to Portugal, where 75% of the land is currently sown and harvested. they. Expanding both the production area and the export market.

Portugal is kind in terms of irrigation when planting garlic. This is observed when harvesting, as it is watered in the periods that are required to meet the expected delivery dates. Something that does not happen in Aceuchal itself, motivated by climatic changes and difficulty of irrigation, production always ended up being delayed.

Although Aceuchal maintains the largest amount of garlic production in Portugal, it also remains one of the largest Spanish garlic capitals. This is reiterated by the International Fair of Garlic in Aceuchal held in the month of April. It is organized with the purpose of highlighting the value chain of garlic, placing it as a strategic crop in the territory.

It concludes then knowing that the Ajos de Aceuchal, despite the problems they suffer in terms of the lack of land and water to be planted, do not stop going to the market and to be transformed to be marketed under the quality standards required by law Spanish