Project to cultivate avocados in Malaga all year round by introducing new varieties
Spain is the main avocado producer in Europe. The fruit is also grown on a smaller scale in Sicily, the Greek island of Crete and the Portuguese Algarve. On the coast of Malaga and Granada there are more than 10,000 hectares devoted to avocado production. The vast majority of the fruit here is of the Hass variety, whose campaign runs from November to April, so there are more than six months when the fruit needs to be imported from other countries.
For this reason, researchers at the Institute of Subtropical and Mediterranean Horticulture La Mayora , based in the Malaga town of Algarrobo, have proposed to extend avocado cultivation in Malaga with the introduction of new varieties that, in addition to ensuring continuity in the supply, can make it possible to offer consumers new flavors and textures. As researcher Iñaki Hormaza says to Efe, with the cultivation of four or five different varieties