Unió de Pagesos (UP) has conveyed to the Government of the Generalitat a package of measures to alleviate the serious situation facing the citrus sector, which suffered losses of "more than 50%" in the 2025-2026 production campaign and expects similar results at the close of the current campaign, due to the intense rains of last autumn and the heat waves recorded in June.
The proposals were detailed on October 13 before officials from the Department of Agriculture and include, among others, direct aid of 17,000 euros per professional within the line of support for professional farmers for damages arising from the climate crisis, as UP explained this Tuesday in a statement.
The union also proposes to promote the reconversion of 400 hectares per year over a period of 5 years through a "varietal reconversion plan for the sector," applying the maximum percentage of subsidy authorized in the European Union for investments.
UP demands that this action be implemented in 2027 in order to "adapt the plantations to the current climatic reality" and, in parallel, requests to incorporate a specific module for the reconversion of citrus within the aids of the Global Exploitation Contract 2027.
PRODUCTION COSTS AND AGING OF THE SECTOR
The agrarian organization also points out that the complicated situation of the sector is exacerbated by the sharp increase in production costs, which affects diesel, fertilizers, phytosanitary products, shoots, labor, and machinery.
According to the union's data, 39.4% of the holders of citrus farms are over 65 years old, and a good part of the current plantations is between 25 and 30 years old, which complicates the reconversion of the farms due to "the low economic profitability they suffer."