Whilst Costa Tropical fruit farmers lament the loss of crops due to high winds, the horticultural sector suffers from over production.

The cucumber market is saturated and farmers along with their cooperatives were torn between destroying part of the crop to raise prices to at least production costs – as it stands, it’s not worth even picking them.

In the end, farmers in Castell de Ferro unanimously agreed to destroy 50,000 kilos of cucumber because vegetable clearing houses are paying between 18 and 20 centimes a kilo, which is about half of the production costs.

The majority of cucumbers consumed in Europe are grown in Andalucía, mostly on the Costa granadina. Between 35,000 y 40,000 live off this sector.

Over in Motril the Town Hall has stepped in and offered part of the Cortijo del Conde fairground as a dumping ground for their cucumber crop.

The villains, some claim, are the big supermarket chains who pay a pittance and then put the product on their shelves at hugely inflated prices per kilo.

Note: the photo accompanying the article is from 2010 when cucumbers were dumped on a beach in protest over prices.

(News: Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)