Costa del Sol
Sections
Highlight
Sections
Highlight
Mijas is renowned for its mountains, and a large part of the beauty of this municipality lies in its forest, which is made up of priceless flora and fauna, but unfortunately, year after year it suffers the scourge of forest fires to a greater or lesser extent.
The different preventive works to try to minimise these episodes are very necessary and the removal of pine cones forms part of this. Every year, between November and April, a specialised company enters the Sierra Bermeja in Mijas, which is publicly owned by the town hall, and takes the pine cones directly from the trees, before they fall to the ground. From them they later extract the pine nuts, a product which has become a delicacy due to the high price it fetches on the market, owing to the difficulty involved in obtaining and processing them.
Each year, the council draws up a set of conditions and puts the contract out to tender, which is finally awarded to the company that makes the best offer. The price asked is usually "symbolic" because the profit for the municipality is not directly economic, but rather that with the extraction of the pine cones "the tree is cleaned up and above all it avoids combustible material on the ground", explains environment councillor Marco Cortés.
The council put out the tender for this work at the beginning of this year and in the end the process was unsuccessful because no companies were interested.
The councillor explains this situation by the fact that it is "a difficult task to do, as you have to take the pine cone from the tree and many pines are on sloping areas, which complicates the work even more". Added to this is the fact that "in the fire a few years ago some of the best areas" of pine forest were lost.
"This year, therefore, the pine cones will not be collected from the forest and next year we will try again with a new tender," says Cortés.
What there has been a response to is the beekeeping service in the mountains, a service that is also contracted by the town hall through a public tender. It was announced at the beginning of 2024, but the contract has still not been awarded. The process has taken longer than it should have because of the "digital divide" that exists in several of the companies that have applied for the tender, according to the councillor, which has meant that the presentation of documentation has taken longer than normal. Even so, Cortés says that the council already has a successful bidder and the contract will be formalised shortly.
This activity has been carried out for years with two objectives: on the one hand the protection of the bees and on the other the conservation of the environment. "The bees pollinate and help to conserve the mountain range in a natural way, and the presence of beekeepers is also a way of keeping a constant watch over the forest."
The company awarded the contract will install its own beehives in ten different areas of the Sierra de Mijas. Specifically, they will be located in Majada la Fragua, El Camorro, Cerro La Cancha, Loma Enebral, Puerto Jorado, Arroyo de los Toros, Cañada Los Jaenes, Los Hoyos, Cantera Los Arenales and El Cascajal. A maximum of 80 hives may be installed in each area, from which honey will be extracted and later marketed by the successful bidder.
Publicidad
Publicidad
Publicidad
Publicidad
Esta funcionalidad es exclusiva para suscriptores.
Reporta un error en esta noticia
Comentar es una ventaja exclusiva para registrados
¿Ya eres registrado?
Inicia sesiónNecesitas ser suscriptor para poder votar.