Growers are used to dealing with weather adversities. It is part of their job and a handicap against which there's little they can do. The kaki producers started the campaign just as they have finished it: at the mercy of the weather conditions. The frosts that were recorded in March took a considerable toll on the kaki crops; in fact, the decline in the production was estimated to be close to 30%. Practically all the towns of the region had fields that recorded 100% damages, and the flowers fell from the trees because they could not withstand the impact of the cold.
However, after that misfortune, things went back to normal. "Although we started badly because of the frost and hail, the truth is that the first part of the campaign has gone very well," said the president of the Carlet cooperative, Vicent Monzó. In fact, the prospects were not all bad because, as Monzó himself recalled, the fruit reached better prices than expected, exceeding those of last year.
But the weather again showed its capacity to cause serious trouble. "Everything was going well until the rains came," said Monzó, who added that "the main consequence of those days of rainfall is that a good part of the production has ripened much faster than it should, so it has had to be harvested very quickly and we have not had time to put production in storage for the months of January and February, which was our plan." It is a hard blow for a sector that has devoted many resources to be able to extend the campaign by keeping some of this delicate fruit in cold storage, but that won't be possible this year.
