Nowadays, as explained by Andrés Góngora, provincial secretary of COAG-Almería, "with the exception of just a few supermarkets, most retailers already offer different types of a wide range of watermelon varieties, such as white with seeds (Crimson), white seedless, black with and without seeds, as well as the 'mini', to cite just a few examples.
This, according to Góngora, results in "more consumption." And, as also stated by the head of the fruit and vegetables department at COAG, "the same principle applies to apples, as having both a red and a green variety, for instance, reduces the chances of us not finding what we are looking for."
Watermelon demand, moreover, has grown above the available supply. And, as explained by Góngora, "the weather has caused watermelons not to reach the ideal sizes, so there is some shortage of volume in the market."
Quality, in any case, is still good. The main aspect to determine whether a watermelon is of good quality is, without a doubt, its taste. In this regard, Andrés Góngora said that the campaign of the Territorial Delegation of the Council of Agriculture of the Government of Andalusia in Almeria, called 'No cortes en verde' ('No green harvesting') has developed without major incidents." Despite the fact that very few items have failed to reach the minimum Brix degrees demanded by the market, Góngora has made it clear that "it will be necessary to keep this campaign active every year and for the controls carried out by officials of the regional administration to continue."
Low presence of whitefly
A very positive factor for Almeria's greenhouse watermelon producers has undoubtedly been the very low presence of whitefly and beet armyworm. In this regard, Andrés Góngora explained that "we don't really know what the reason is for this, as we have had a very mild winter and these pests thrive with high temperatures." However, the remarkable increase in temperatures in the province of Almeria between the end of week 19 and early week 20 has led to a perceptible increase in the presence of the dreaded Bemisia tabaci, more popularly known as whitefly.
