Almuñecar farm receives funding

ALMUÑECAR’S ‘experimental’ farm, El Zahori, has received €35,000 for improvement which will see 44 additional labourers employed.

The agricultural space, which is the responsibility of Almuñecar Council, cultivates sub-tropical crops and is a source of tourism, with around 1,200 visitors to its centre each year.

The investment, which is supported by Spain’s Promotion for Agrian Employment scheme, will see labourers pruning and maintaining the farm’s 23 varieties of mangoes.  

Also grown on its land are litchi, avocados, lucuma, macadamia and mandarins. Around 1,700 mangoes were produced on the site last year and it is hoped this investment will help to double the crop.

The head of the centre, Dionisio Franco, said that a research project has begun focusing on “consumption of avocado and mango and nutrition of those crops.”  He added, “this will not be the only project to be developed here; there is another project with the University of Granada to make use of plant remains after pruning.”