Andalusian farmers are crying out for help. Viticulture, one of the pillars of rural and traditional areas such as Manilva, is going through an unprecedented crisis because of downy mildew, a devastating fungus that is ravaging vineyards across Andalusia.
Local farmers are already talking of catastrophic losses this season and an uncertain future for the cultivation of the Muscat grape, an emblem of our land.
Losses of up to 80% in some areas and ineffective treatments. What began as a spring full of promise thanks to the rains has ended in disaster: the sudden rise in temperatures has driven the spread of this fungus. Not even the many treatments applied, up to ten in a single season, have managed to contain the outbreak.
Costs soar and morale falls.
«One of them completely lost and the other 50%. A catastrophe,» a local farmer tells us, watching as year after year the crop becomes less profitable and more uncertain.
The situation in Manilva is not an isolated case. In areas such as El Condado de Huelva or Montilla-Moriles, losses are already around 80%. In the Marco de Jerez, up to 90% of holdings have suffered damage. In Manilva, although the figures are still being assessed, the signs are not encouraging: scorched bunches, diseased leaves and an environmental and economic cost that puts the sector’s season in jeopardy.
Farmers call for urgent measures.
From Cooperativas Agroalimentarias de Andalucía, which represents a large part of the sector, come demands for the approval of new substances that are effective against downy mildew and a plan of direct aid for farmers. They are also calling for investment in R&D to develop varieties resistant to climate change, a factor that is having an ever greater impact on the vine.
