How Safe Are The Local Peppers?
July 1st, 2008 - Chris MarshallI have written before about what brought me to Almerimar, but in case you don’t know it was pesticide levels on the greenhouse produce. So it was interest and alarm that I read recently about bogus pesticides here in Almeria.
Spanish police detained the president of the local co-operative on suspicion of selling the cheaper unlicensed product to farmers desperate to produce more peppers at lower cost. With further raids in December, they have arrested 15 people and seized 4,000kg of illegal pesticides among the greenhouses of Almeria, centre of Spain’s huge fruit and vegetable industry.
It appears that the use of fake or illegal substances to treat crops is growing at an alarming rate, according to agriculture experts, putting people’s health - and farmers’ livelihoods - at risk. The article claims that 5-7% of Europe’s supply of crop protection products - pesticides, herbicides and fungicides - is fake, representing up to EUR500m of a EUR10bn market.
At the end of the day it seems like a cost cutting exercise brought about by the fact that pepper orders have fallen by a fifth and prices almost halved.
Makes you think - especially as I am just off to eat a pepper based pasta dish that we regularly eat!!!!
About Almerimar
Almerimar is located in the region of Andalucia, Spain. The nearest airport is 30km away in Almeria. Other airports that are within 3 hours include Malaga, Murcia, Granada, and Alicanti. Other holiday resorts in the region include Mojacar , Aguadulce and Roquetas de Mar
Almerimar is a great place to live as an expat amongst the expats, or to work amongst the Spanish. There are all kinds of properties including villas, apartments and town houses for rent or sale. It is a very traditional part of Spain, with traditional Spanish foods so if you plan to travel to Spain either to look for jobs, for your company to trade with companies in Spain, or to learn Spanish and enjoy the Spanish weather then come and take a look.
If you are interested in purchasing a property in Almerimar please visit our sponsors Mediterraspain. If you have purchased a property and need it furnished please check out our Sponsors DBJ who will give you a Exclusive 5% discount with the code AL2008.
If you want to learn Spanish, get help with anything to do with the legal issues in Spain, or want WiFi access in the marina please check out our sponsor CentrePoint who will give you a 10% discount off all services with the code AL2008.
If you want an amazing activity based day out in the mountains and to learn how to ride a motorcycle off road then check out our sponsor The Long Way Round and get 5% off with the code AL2008.
Almerimar is also one of the largest marinas in Spain with over 2,000 births and excellent boatyard facilities.
