Avocado plantations in southern Spain are threatened by drought.

When Manuel Lavao planted some of the first avocado orchards in Europe in 1978 in La Axarquía, a sunny region in the province of Malaga, he helped usher in decades of growth for the continent’s exotic fruit sector. Nearly half a century later, he is uprooting his trees for miles.

You are not alone. As temperatures rise and reservoirs dry, Spain’s southern coast is struggling to support commercial avocado farms. Spain was the world’s third largest exporter of avocados with around 150 million kilograms last year, only behind Mexico and Peru among producing countries, according to data compiled by Rabobank. “We’ve never experienced dry periods like this,” Lavao says, noting that his orchards haven’t seen a frost in 15 years as the climate warms. “This is great for tourism, but terrible for us.”

“We have never experienced periods of drought like this”

The problem is in the water.

The Union of Small Farmers and Ranchers in the province of Malaga has estimated that this year’s avocado harvest will be 60% lower than the previous one. Water levels in the La Viñuela reservoir, built in the 1980s in part to support the avocado and mango orchards springing up in La Axarquía, recently fell to 7.57% capacity, the lowest level on record. Agriculture is a major culprit, as irrigated avocados require much more water than the traditional rain-fed fruit and vegetable crops they largely replaced. Decreased rainfall, population growth and increased tourism have put further pressure on supplies.

Around the world, climate change is forcing farmers to reevaluate their choice of crops. In the United States, for example, North Dakota now has a longer growing season, allowing corn and soybeans to be grown in some of the colder parts of the state, and some California farmers have been able to expand into soybean production. cafeteria Winegrowers in the Bordeaux region of France are forced to harvest their grapes earlier.

A study commissioned by a group representing agricultural and livestock producers in Spain estimates that the country loses the equivalent of 6% of agricultural production due to climate change each year. The World Resources Institute, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., projects that by 2050, Spain will join the group of nations facing extremely high water stress, meaning they use more than 80% of their renewable supply of water for irrigation, livestock, industry and domestic needs.

“Lack of water and other climate extremes definitely limit the expansion and further growth of the Spanish produce industry,” says Cindy van Rijswick, global strategist at Rabobank covering the agricultural and produce sectors. As Spain dries up, water theft is on the rise. An eight-month investigation involving 1,400 Spanish Civil Guard officers led to the arrest of 133 people across the country last year, but hundreds of illegal wells irrigating agricultural fields continue to elude authorities.

The Cantabrian coast can be the alternative

To help save Spain’s position in the roughly €17 billion global avocado market, some growers in La Axarquía are moving to cooler climates. Among them is Antonio Ruiz García, who like Lavao was a pioneer and began growing the fruit in the 1970s. Earlier this year, García bought around 12 hectares (30 acres) of land in Llanes, Asturias . , where the climate is milder and rain is abundant. It’s “a paradise for avocados,” says the 74-year-old farmer.

By García’s estimate, more than 30% of the avocado orchards in La Axarquía have been abandoned due to persistent drought conditions. Those that remain are producing fruits that are half the normal size, dice. Meanwhile, avocado growers in the north have been able to double their yields. “We prefer to bet on northern Spain instead of Morocco,” says García, alluding to the flight of Spanish fruit and vegetable producers to North Africa, where salaries are lower.

In addition to avocados, less common crops such as chayote, kiwano, passion fruit, physalis and pitaya are also starting to appear along the northern coast of Spain and in other regions that were previously considered too cold, says Mari Luz . Iglesias, co-founder of the agricultural consulting firm Iberian Exotics in Lisbon.

“These crops couldn’t be grown in this area before,” says Iglesias, whose company is about to open an office in the northern Spanish city of Gijón to be closer to the action. “The difficult time that tropical fruit producers in La Axarquía are going through suggests that it may be necessary to look for a new option, and the Cantabrian coast may be the right one.”

Back in southern Spain, Lavao uprooted 2,500 of its problem avocado trees in August and September, with another 1,500 to be removed in the next month or two. He will replace some with mangoes, which require less water, but the rest of his land will remain barbecued for now. The dried avocado trees will be reused as firewood. “Here I am at 86 years old changing my entire farming system and planning to harvest mangoes in four or five years,” he says.

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