The number of producers increased by 15.5% and now exceeds one hundred.
The area of organic production in Ibiza went from 1,023 hectares in 2021 to 1,723 in 2022. This is the highest increase since 2001, prompted by the incorporation last year of organic salt production in the Balearic Council of Organic Agricultural Production (Cbpae). A distortion, if we talk about agricultural production, which does not mean that Ibiza was the island that grew the most in area and new organic producers, even discounting the salt flats, as explained yesterday by the technical director of Cbpae, Jeroni Vera.
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The plenary room of the Consell de Ibiza hosted yesterday the General Assembly of the Cbpae for the farmers and producers of the island. A meeting in which, in addition to accounting for administrative aspects such as the settlement of the budget or the new sanctioning regime, the statistical data for 2022 was advanced, which will be published in detail in April or May.
Vera reported a growth in the ecological agricultural area of around 200 hectares in Ibiza (subtracting the nearly 500 hectares of salt production ponds), with which the increase would be around 20%. A “very notable” growth, he highlighted, which would continue to be one of the highest in the historical record.
As for organic producers, they went from 97 to 112 in 2022, an increase of 15.5%. Vera recalled that, in the case of Ibiza, the incorporation of young farmers stands out, many of them women, which places Ibiza as the island of the archipelago with the youngest average age of the organic agricultural sector (45 years on average compared to the 51 of the Balearic average) and with a higher weight of women (34%).
In all the islands, the organic agricultural area increased. The data for Ibiza is the highest percentage, followed by the figure for Formentera (16.1%), that for Mallorca, which would also include a salt production area (62%), and, finally, the percentage for Menorca (4.8%).
Ibiza has advanced by leaps and bounds in the last two years. Last year there was already a notable increase in organic agricultural area, which went from 792 to 1,023 hectares.
A necessary increase, on the other hand, if it is intended to achieve the European objectives, which set 25% of ecological agricultural area within the useful agricultural area.
Despite everything, Ibiza is still far behind Mallorca and Menorca in organic production. Mallorca has 171,355 cultivated hectares, of which 16.3% are organic, and in Menorca, of the 29,037 cultivated hectares, 19.4% are organic. In Ibiza there is a third of the agricultural area that Menorca has, 9,019 hectares, according to data from 2020, with which the total of organic crops (discounting the salt flats) would be around 12%.
Control technician
The meeting also announced the possible creation next year of a Cbpae control technician position in Ibiza, having reached a sufficient level of visits to justify this new hiring. «Surely it is a possibility for next year. The board will study this year if a specific technician for Ibiza and Formentera is incorporated. All the forecasts suggest that this is the case”, explained the technical director of Cbpae.
Until now, visits to farms to verify compliance with organic production regulations were made by technicians who traveled from Mallorca. In 2023, 220 visits are planned, 10% more than last year. Usually, each technician makes between 230 and 250 visits to farms per year.