It is one of the plants more beautiful and friendly that exist. We can pride ourselves on being the third country in Europe with a larger area of fields painted yellow, after Romania and Bulgaria. However, sunflower cultivation in Spain is threatened for various reasons that hinder its future for the next few years. The drought increasingly rooted in our agricultural lands influences this plantation, mainly rainfed, from which it is obtained oil, But also pipes. Below we will tell you everything about the moment that one of the most representative vegetables of our geography lives, which can be seen in many fields of the Iberian Peninsula.
North American origin of the plant
Although, today, it is already present in many countries on the European and Asian continent and even South Africa, the plant Helianthus annuus es native to North America. Specifically in the southwest of the United States, sunflowers managed to domesticate about five thousand years ago, although other sources place this fact in Mexico. In any case, the sunflower cultivation in Spain began to be reality in 1514, because in the XNUMXth century, the conquerors brought it from American lands.
Its adaptation to our country was really simple, since the plant requires a natural environment in which the Sun rays penetrate hard. In addition, it needs to be protected from strong winds. Other ideal conditions for its good growth and development have to do with the almost non-existent humidity, but some precipitation. To date, in Spain sunflower fields are distributed from the north to the south of the peninsula. Of course, the largest extensions are in Andalusia, Castilla La-Mancha and Castilla y León.
Sunflower cultivation in Spain, threatened
That last autonomous community mentioned now leads both in area and in number of producers. It achieves this first national position after the important decline in Andalusian territory that the plantations suffered, many losses. In total, some There are 700.000 hectares in the Iberian Peninsula. Some of its most magical landscapes that you can contemplate are in the province of Sevilla, despite having reduced their harvest. The rain shortage have been making a dent in the sunflower cultivation in Spain, more pronounced in southern lands. Although the beauty of such a vegetable reaches even Galicia (in small areas), the worst thing is that it is increasingly threatened.
And among the culprits is the weather, specifically the droughtWell, only the 11% of the planted area is irrigation. To this negative aspect are added other factors such as high temperature (frequent heat waves) or enfermedades affecting the plant. But beyond these conditions that are impossible to control by farmers, there are others linked to the market and the competent authorities.
From the lack of control with the oil to the Ukrainian pipe
El labeled little controlled of the origin of the sunflower oils It is another obstacle to the one that is originally from the Spanish countryside and could be priced according to its quality. While the other product resulting from this oilseed (the kite) also suffers the consequences of the importation of said food from Eastern Europe, especially from Ukraine. With pipes coming to the national market of countries such as Russia or Argentina also, the devaluation of its price is a very heavy slab.
History repeats itself, as it happens with other agricultural products: no costs are covered of production. Consumers do not know for sure which sunflower oil they are taking and buy at lower prices the pipes foreign. Furthermore, the Spanish government does not give sufficient tax aid to a sector that accumulates frequent disastrous results in recent years. In many cases, they have already ended the abandonment of the sunflower cultivation in Spain. Especially in the south.
At this time and with those circumstances, the future looks more black how golden and prosperous. Agricultural companies are striving to concentrate supply, save costs and innovate. For this last task, they are looking for new hybrid seed varieties that can benefit farmers. Offering a more resistant and healthy plant, as well as allowing the pipes to retain more oil.
In conclusion, the future of sunflower cultivation in Spain pass by the research projects., while the most traditional oilseed continues to be lost in large hectares. It is the only way out of a threat that is increasingly present and that transforms the beautiful fields tinged with yellow into gray scenes from those proliferating times of the past.
