Serranía de Ronda faces challenging chestnut harvest due to ongoing drought crisis

The sector estimates that production will fall by half, with growers forced to deal with a lack of rain and a plague of wasps

Vanessa Melgar

Ronda

Tuesday, 24 September 2024, 17:14

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One of Andalucía's main production areas for chestnuts in the Serranía de Ronda is expecting a catastrophic harvest due to the drought crisis affecting the region.

The Genal valley in Malaga province is facing a new chestnut season, but the drought is expected to already cause a poor harvest with a lack of rain possibly reducing the crop by around half.

Francisco Boza, a local producer in the Genal valley and head of the sector at COAG Andalucía association said: "At most we will be at around 40 or 50% of a normal harvest". However, he said the forecasts could change. "The trees are quite nice, although some of them are starting to dry out already. With the spring rains they became very beautiful. There are a lot of nut shells, as we haven't seen for years, but they haven't had enough water to raise them and we are seeing that for the time of year they are not getting as big as they should," Boza said.

"Most of the shells are going to be empty and the chestnuts that are obtained are going to be of small calibre, unless it rains soon. I think it's going to be a pretty bad season," he added.

A wasp plague

Boza also pointed out an issue with Asian chestnut gall wasps, with the invasive insect from China arriving in the area's chestnut groves some years ago and it is still creating a problem for growers. He said he also hoped that the chestnuts that are harvested will not be affected by a fungus. "We hope that it has not affected them and that the few chestnuts that are harvested are at least not rotten and that we can get a good price," the farmer added.

In the Genal valley there are some 4,000 hectares dedicated to chestnut cultivation. Chestnut forests also extend throughout the Sierra de las Nieves, with particular importance in the municipality of Yunquera, among others. Most of the farms are family-run, and there are villages, such as Pujerra and Igualeja, in whose municipalities chestnut trees are practically everywhere. The star variety is the pilonga.

The chestnut, most of which is sold fresh, has historically been a source of income for families in the area, although in recent years the crop has declined due to drought and the incidence of wasps and other diseases.

The so-called copper forest is becoming an increasingly popular tourist attraction, especially for nature lovers. These trees, before losing their leaves, turn ochre, gold, brown and yellow - the area is a true, natural spectacle.

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