Melon producers in the Spanish region of Murcia have reportedly destroyed up to 30 per cent of this year's harvest in an attempt to buoy plummeting prices for the fruit.
According to national Spanish farmers' association COAG, the drastic measure has been taken as a result of 'the collapse' of prices paid to melon growers at the point of origin.
COAG, which last week staged a sectoral meeting in the Murcian town of Torre Pacheco to address the fall in returns, said melon growers were currently receiving on average as little as €0.14 per kg, a 'ruinous price' for the sector.
At the meeting, which was attended by much of Murcia's melon sector, delegates unanimously agreed to destroy 30 per cent of this year's production, work that growers reportedly began last week.
However, the estimated 250 growers that attended the event heard that the crisis in prices was not only affecting melons, but also other major crops produced in the Spanish region, including peppers, watermelons and potatoes.
According to Murcian daily La Verdad, current prices that growers are receiving for the products are between 30 to 40 per cent lower than those that are needed for the survival of the sector.
'The agricultural sector, as we find it, is in a catastrophic situation,' said COAG president Pedro Lencina at the conference.
Mr Lencina called for the introduction of pricing regulations, including an agreed minimum price to cover the costs of production, which 'would be respected by everyone and below which products could not be sold'.
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