Once again this year, the Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment, through the Directorate General for Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development, has coordinated the start of the extra-early potato export campaign and has informed the sector about its organisation and the new features of the third edition of the Regional Potato Plan for Mallorca.

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The 2024 extra-early potato export season

The Regional Potato Plan, which was drawn up after the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, is a document that reassures importers that the potato produced in Mallorca complies with all the phytosanitary and environmental regulations required by each country. In this sense, the Director General for Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development, Fernando Fernández, affirms that “this plan aims to guarantee competitiveness in the export of Mallorcan potato with quality standards that meet the requirements of importing countries, such as the United Kingdom, for example”.

Thus, various services and departments of the Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment are involved in the potato campaign. In addition to the Agricultural Production Service and the Plant Health Service, the IRFAP laboratories are involved, which have to analyse each sample to prove the absence of the nematode known as Globodera, or a series of analyses to verify that the potato is free from other pathogens controlled by importing countries. The Conselleria must inspect every plot. From this point on, sanitary certificates are issued which allow the potato portals to take the produce across the border to the destination countries.

In this sense, last Monday, 11th March, inspections began on the 138 declared plots of land from which the potatoes will be exported. In total, there are 811 hectares, an area similar to that of recent years. So, bearing in mind that the average yield per hectare is around 38,000 kg per hectare, production is estimated at around 31,000 tonnes for export.

This season, moreover, the Directorate General for Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development will be placing special emphasis on checking that potatoes destined for export do not accumulate more than 0.1% of soil on the tuber. This percentage is what the receiving countries establish as a control level to avoid the entry of another pathogen known as epitrix.

In addition, and having obtained extraordinary authorisation from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for the use of Metam Sodium in the two previous seasons, the Directorate General has already sent an official letter to all growers to check data on the correct application of this phytosanitary product.

This whole “complex” control system in the potato season has been set up to guarantee consumers in destination countries that potatoes leaving Mallorca comply with all health and environmental regulations. In this context, and in line with the recent demonstrations by the agricultural sector, Fernando Fernández reminded us that “the quality standards we demand of our producers are a guarantee for European consumers, but and precisely for this reason, we need to demand the same criteria for potatoes from other countries outside the European Union”.

Finally, and linked to the Regional Potato Plan, together with companies in the sector, a series of research projects are being promoted in order to make progress in the environmental improvement of the crop through crop rotation. This research is being carried out through the Balearic Islands Agri-Food and Fisheries Research and Training Institute (IRFAP).