The Fraga City Council, the Government of Aragon and the agricultural sector hold their third meeting on San Isidro Day to analyze the start of the campaign and the creation of a quality brand for the fruit of the area
The Fraga City Council held its third agri-food working group meeting this Wednesday, the feast day of Saint Isidore. Participants included the mayor, Ignacio Gramun, the councilor for Agri-food Industry, Verónica Alíns, the Director General of Innovation and Agri-food Promotion for the Government of Aragon, Juan José Orries, and various stakeholders from the sector. The creation of a quality brand, accommodation for seasonal workers, the planning of reverse trade missions, and fruit removal and inspections were the main topics discussed at the meeting.
Gramun stated that the objective of these meetings is "to achieve that quality certification." "We are going to try to raise awareness throughout the sector because, ultimately, it's good to give that added value to the fruit. We know that the agricultural sector is not going through its best times, and together we must be able to find alternatives and solutions," the mayor asserted.
For his part, Alíns has stated that “after many years we have managed to recover a brand that we had registered with the Fraga City Council, namely the Fraga Figs, and what we intend is to provide promotional support to these producers, try to differentiate crops and appear on the shelf with a differentiated quality.”
Regarding quality labels, the working group is considering initially distinguishing between Paraguayan peaches and figs with the aim of "improving the profitability of farms." "For now, the focus is on Paraguayan peaches, which are a newer product, with a more accepted quality in the market and with potentially more promising prospects," announced General Manager Juan José Orriés, who indicated that "there is a recognized quality label in the area, 'Figs of Fraga,' and we also want to give that a little promotional boost to launch both brands: figs as a traditional product and Paraguayan peaches as a newer product."
The general manager has also considered including nectarines. “They are the most important fruit in the region, and they are also an interesting product because they offer advantages to the consumer in terms of ease of use and their visual appeal, compared to other products, due to their color,” said Orries, who assured that this product “already has a very strong export market, and this market is now more controlled.”
“We are seeing that imported products are increasingly entering supermarkets, and one way to combat this is for local products to be of higher quality, or a little more differentiated, or for consumers to have a certain tendency to consume more local products,” explained the general manager, who considered, in response, “that the product should be strengthened in the national market.”
Finally, Orries commented that “progress is slow because it’s an important awareness-raising process.” “When you join a quality brand, you try to prioritize aspects beyond just production itself, such as the production methods, how to produce, the quality you achieve… and that involves a process of adaptation for the producer to the product they want to create. We’ll continue to explore this further in an upcoming meeting that we hope will be open to the public.”
Regarding awareness, the vice president of Excofrut, Carmelo Casas, stated that, after these first three meetings, “ we already know what interests us and what is convenient for us, but little by little we have to convince the sector and convey it in the appropriate way .”
Campaign and seasonal workers
At the start of the season, Casas stated that “so far it seems to be off to a good start, and we expect good prospects in terms of sales and prices. Regarding seasonal workers, it seems we're a bit better off here in the Bajo Cinca region than in previous seasons.” Regarding accommodation, the Excofrut representative said that “there is some available, but we need a bit more to provide adequate support. The City Council has already allocated some funds, and we will adapt according to the seasons and needs.”
On this subject, Gramún has stated that, “as a City Council, we are providing support with these temporary accommodations, and I must say that all agricultural employers, with each passing year, are becoming much more aware that their duty and obligation is to provide accommodation for these seasonal workers.”
For now, agricultural workers arriving in the city without jobs or accommodation are staying—temporarily—at the municipal shelter until the Clara Campoamor cabins become operational. This service has been running since May 2nd and has already accommodated 46 people.
“At the moment there are no major problems and we hope that the campaign will proceed within normal parameters,” said the mayor, who added that “cherries and apricots are selling well; we’ll see later, because the peak production in our area is from July 15 to August 15.”
Juan José Orries also predicted that “in principle, there are no product withdrawals planned, but what always happens in the markets is that there are production peaks, which tend to cause bottlenecks and lead to a drop in prices.” “To ensure that this price drop isn't significant for producers, we will try to ensure that the withdrawals authorized by EU regulations are implemented so that this doesn't cause problems in the markets. But in principle, the harvest is expected to be normal; the only issue is that there might be some isolated incidents.”
