Low prices mean Andalusia’s garlic producers barely make ends meet

With Andalusia’s garlic campaign drawing to a close, farmers are receiving very low prices, which barely cover their production costs. In the case of white garlic, with the campaign already completed, the price at source is €0.59/kg, while production costs are around €0.55-0.60/kg. This situation is the same with the highly valued purple garlic, which is still being harvested, and which has a production cost of €0.75-0.80/kg, with an additional €0.07/kg cost for classification. However, the price being offered to producers is €0.85/kg.
This is a very important sector, which generates a lot of employment (more than 200,000 workers per campaign) in the producing areas. Andalusia has more than 5,000 hectares of garlic, with a production that exceeded 63,000 tons in 2017.