Caracterización del cultivo del almendro en secano en Andalucía y propuestas de reconversión

Abstract

Andalusia is the first Spanish Autonomous region in terms of almond cultivated area and production. Nevertheless, almond crops show relevant deficiencies and their farms a high degree of heterogeneity. This work characterises the Andalusian unirrigated almonds farms and establishes the main shortcomings. In addition, the potential strategies for farms reconversion, farmers’ preferences towards the proposed alternatives and the economic costs of the selected actions are analysed. To do that, a survey of one hundred farmers was conducted using a stratified sample approach based on the number of unirrigated cultivated almond hectares. Gathered data was analysed by classification statistical techniques, in particular, by a cluster analysis. Results show the dominance of marginal farms and the existence of important deficiencies and therefore, one third of the interviewed farmers are considering the option of giving up the cultivation of almond. The crop improvement options preferred by farmers are based on variety reconversion and the conversion to organic production. Furthermore, results indicate that it is necessary to take into account farmers’ preferences in order to implement the appropriated agriculture policy tools.