avocados and water

[gavilan]

I stumbled across this documentary recently ... the focus is on avocado growing in Chile and the implications re irrigation of such orchards and availability of drinking water for ordinary people ... but obviously has resonance with Axarquia avocado planting and drinking water supply ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md5dgkDnZ9k

ps DW have also made some interesting documentaries about water/drought etc

[Wicksey]

The avocados around us have been left to die whilst they grub up the olives and create terraces to plant many hundreds of mango trees. More trees continue to be planted every month and no-one seems at all concerned about the lack of water. I think it's a world wide problem unfortunately as food production takes priority over everything/everybody else. Doñana wetlands are drying up because water is being taken for agriculture.

My OH bought some avocados from the supermarket last month thinking they'd be local ones as they are in season, to find they were from Chile. We don't usually buy fruit or veg that's come from the other side of the world.

[olive]

I have noticed that the avocadoes in Mercadona are smaller but they are grown in Spain and packaged in Velez Malaga. I just assumed they are smaller due to cooler weather and time of year! It is gross that ones from Chile have been sent all that way.

It wasn’t that long ago that Spain was very seasonal for foods.

[Wicksey]

The tree we have access to usually produces 100s of fruit, but this year we only had 4 tiny ones. We usually try to only buy fruit and veg that is in season and local.

[gavilan]

closer to home ... Portugal ... doing the same as Chile ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M59_BV2rOA

would also add that avocado orchards are a fire hazard ... the trees drop lots of large dry leaves ... easy to catch fire and spread rapidly ... I know from experience as I live beside such an orchard

[Wicksey]

https://www.surinenglish.com/malaga/axa ... 12-nt.html

Interesting to see that you can only change the land from unirrigated to irrigated if there is a legal water supply. Over the past few weeks there are vast new areas of previously 'dry' land of olives and scrub being bulldozed into terraces for mangos. I'm amazed that the local agricultural water supplier is happy to put all these areas onto the system which is already stretched. I cannot imagine how much water these new areas will be taking.

[gavilan]

and Periana was one of the villages in the Axarquia which had to bring in tankers for domestic water last year!!! ... profit before people etc

[olive]

A good start.

Not surprising that no comment was available.

No let up here in bore holes being drilled and solar panels being installed to irrigate olive groves.

[Wicksey]

https://www.surinenglish.com/malaga/axa ... 48-nt.html

I wish GENA good luck with their proposals, but they've been warning of the water shortage for years now. Another huge area of previously untouched hillside has been razed and terraced near to us in recent weeks. It is constant around here.

[costakid]

Rincon and La cala del Moral have the front and tunnels dug up. It’s a 4 month project to put in massive pipes to take dirty water away, clean it and use it on the Avocado and Mango farms.

[gavilan]

now it's not just water being used for all these avocado trees etc ... I had a nasty shock this afternoon ... 2 guys were in the orchard next door ... both dressed head to foot in white protective clothing, plus protective eye goggles ... spraying all the trees there ... they had a machine to power the spray to the tops of tall trees ... they have never done that before ... and I dread to think what toxic poison then drips down on to the earth and creatures below ... and so hope it doesnt seep intot the stream ... I despair!

[Wicksey]

We saw something very similar around here too. In the past they used to spray with a machine, a huge arc of fine spray up in the air, and it went everywhere. Now though they are completely covered up in hazmat suits and goggles. Either this is the same stuff as they sprayed before but have been on a H&S course, or it is something much more toxic! With many more fruit trees every where I guess the use of some sort of pesticides will increase, as they are replacing olives which they never touched before with new mango trees.

[gavilan]

it just appalls me this casual use of such toxic insecticides ... the trees here are just coming into flower ... what effect will it have on the bees and other nectar gathering insects? ... and the wild boar rummaging around in the earth below? ... let alone what nasty stuff is blown in the wind ... ... and there is nothing I can do about it!!!

[El Cid]

How do you know it is toxic? Most dangerous ones have been banned.

Sid

[gavilan]

if it's not toxic ... ?why do guys wear such heavy duty all-encompassing protective clothing? ... just in case an avocado falls on their heads?!!!

[Enrique]

Hi,
New regulations that came in and require operatives to Register and log amounts used .

The stuff they spray olive trees with is not something you want to breath in................

"Based on research on the chronic side effects of glyphosate, in 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization (WHO) reclassified glyphosate as probably carcinogenic to human"

[gavilan]

I doubt very much if the guys who sprayed the avocados here registered their actions and amounts anywhere ...

and from what you say Enrique, I am just relieved I try to buy organic olive oil ...

methinks we are poisoning ourselves in the name of moneey!

[El Cid]

Methinks we are poisoning ourselves in the name of money!

We've been poisoning our food for years. Due to new regulations, it's better than it was. The only safe solution is to grow your own.

Sid

[gavilan]

for those of us fortunate to have some land, yes growing our own is the safest option ... except that these days the weather is unpredictable and makes for unpredictable growth ... here, we had an unusually warm november and december, then unusually cold january and february ... now we are back to unusual warmth again ... suppose the answer is green houses or plasicultura stuff?

[gavilan]

and even if growing your own, you will need WATER ...