Farmers give away 3,000 kilos of lemons in Malaga

The Plaza de la Marina in Malaga was filled with bags of lemons. Citizens were able to take away, free of charge, a mesh bag full of lemons brought directly from the farms of local farmers. The aim was to encourage consumption of locally sourced fruit as opposed to the purchase of ‘industrialised’ products of dubious origin and subject to chemical treatments.

Farmers can’t make a profit from growing their produce and the lemon harvest in Malaga will “ruin” farmers in the area. The difference in prices between small and large shops has a negative effect on the growers who now have no option but to leave their produce on the tree rather than sell it.

“It is not acceptable that consumers are paying €2 for lemons in large supermarkets”, said Francisco Moscoso, secretary general of the Union of Small Farmers and Stockbreeders of Malaga. It costs the farmer 35 cents to produce them and they are being paid less than 20 cents.

The Union has asked the Andalucian Regional Government for a regulation that, “looks after the farmers, so that all the lemon that enters from third countries complies with the same standards that we comply with in Spain”. Moscoso said, “shoppers should look at the label to know where the lemons, oranges or mandarins come from, but the problem is that nobody checks”.