Spain: Steady growth of the organic sector in Catalonia

Catalonia’s organic sector has been growing year after year and the region has become one of the most dynamic organic production areas in Spain. According to statistic data on organic production presented by the Ministry of Environment and Rural and Marine Environment (Marmara), Catalonia is the most important autonomous region for vegetable producers with 459 enterprises, and for animal production (97), followed by Andalusia and Valencia. The most important activities are bottling wines and sparkling wines, labour in slaughterhouses and cutting plants. Catalonia has the highest number of processors (441), importers (36) and marketers (120) throughout Spain, Ecoticias reports. 
 

Catalonia has 62,331 hectares of organic land, which makes it the fifth most important region in Spain. Andalusia is the most important region for organic land, with 784,067 ha, followed by Castilla-La Mancha with 119,668 ha, Extremadura with 85,806 ha and Aragon with 70,494 ha. However, the concentration of organic area in Catalonia is the second highest in Spain with about 2 ha/km², after Andalusia with 9 ha/km². Organic livestock has been growing in the entire country: 3813 farms were counted in 2008, an increase of 25 % on 2007, and manufacturing and processing companies working with plant production increased to to 2174 in 2008 – a plus of 10 % on the previous year.

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