Spain AGRICULTURE
Unavailable
Plowed fields in Valencia Province
Courtesy National Tourist Office of Spain
Unavailable
Figure 10. Structure of Gross Domestic Product, 1988
Rice fields in Navarre
Courtesy National Tourist Office of Spain
Inspecting the nets in La Coruna Province
Courtesy National Tourist Office of Spain
Viewed in terms of land mass, Spain is one of the
largest
countries of Western Europe, and it ranks second in terms
of its
elevation, after Switzerland. A large part of the country
is
semiarid, with temperatures that range from extremely cold
in the
winter to scorching in the summer. Rainfall, which is
often
inadequate, tends to be concentrated in two generally
brief
periods during the year. Summer droughts occur frequently.
Of
Spain's 50.5 million hectares of land, 20.6 million, or
about 40
percent, are suitable for cultivation; however, the soil
is
generally of poor quality, and only about 10 percent of
the land
can be considered excellent. In addition, the roughness of
the
terrain has been an obstacle to agricultural mechanization
and to
other technological improvements. Furthermore, years of
neglect
have created a serious land erosion problem, most notably
in the
dry plains of Castilla-La Mancha.
Compared with other West European countries, the
proportion
of land devoted to agricultural purposes is low. In the
1980s,
about 5 million hectares were devoted to permanent crops:
orchards, olive groves, and vineyards. Another 5 million
lay
fallow each year because of inadequate rainfall. Permanent
meadows and pastureland occupied 13.9 million hectares.
Forests
and scrub woodland accounted for 11.9 million hectares,
and the
balance was wasteland or was taken up by populated and
industrial
areas.
The primary forms of property holding in Spain have
been
large estates (latifundios) and tiny land plots
(minifundios). In large measure, this was still
true in
the 1980s. The agrarian census of 1982 found that 50.9
percent of
the country's farmland was held in properties of 200 or
more
hectares, although farms of this size made up only 1.1
percent of
the country's 2.3 million farms. At the other end of the
scale,
the census showed that 61.8 percent of Spain's farms had
fewer
than 5 hectares of land. These farms accounted for 5.2
percent of
the country's farmland. Furthermore, just under 25-percent
of all
farms consisted of less than 1 hectare of land, and they
accounted for 0.5 percent of all farmland.
Minifundios
were particularly numerous in the north and the northwest.
Latifundios were mainly concentrated in the south, in
Castilla-La
Mancha, Extremadura, Valencia, and Andalusia (Spanish,
Andalucia).
Crop areas were farmed in two highly diverse manners.
Areas
relying on nonirrigated cultivation (secano), which
made
up 85 percent of the entire crop area, depended solely on
rainfall as a source of water. They included the humid
regions of
the north and the northwest, as well as vast arid zones
that had
not been irrigated. The much more productive regions
devoted to
irrigated cultivation (regadio) accounted for 3
million
hectares in 1986, and the government hoped that this area
would
eventually double, as it already had doubled since 1950.
Particularly noteworthy was the development in
Almeria--one of
the most arid and desolate provinces of Spain--of winter
crops of
various fruits and vegetables for export to Europe.
Though only about 17 percent of Spain's cultivated land
was
irrigated, it was estimated to be the source of between 40
and 45
percent of the gross value of crop production and of 50
percent
of the value of agricultural exports. More than half of
the
irrigated area was planted in corn, fruit trees, and
vegetables.
Other agricultural products that benefited from irrigation
included grapes, cotton, sugar beets, potatoes, legumes,
olive
trees, strawberries, tomatoes, and fodder grasses.
Depending on
the nature of the crop, it was possible to harvest two
successive
crops in the same year on about 10 percent of the
country's
irrigated land.
Citrus fruits, vegetables, cereal grains, olive oil,
and
wine--Spain's traditional agricultural products--continued
to be
important in the 1980s. In 1983 they represented 12
percent, 12
percent, 8 percent, 6 percent, and 4 percent,
respectively, of
the country's agricultural production. Because of the
changed
diet of an increasingly affluent population, there was a
notable
increase in the consumption of livestock, poultry, and
dairy
products. Meat production for domestic consumption became
the
single most important agricultural activity, accounting
for 30
percent of all farm-related production in 1983. Increased
attention to livestock was the reason that Spain became a
net
importer of grains. Ideal growing conditions, combined
with
proximity to important north European markets, made citrus
fruits
Spain's leading export. Fresh vegetables and fruits
produced
through intensive irrigation farming also became important
export
commodities, as did sunflower seed oil that was produced
to
compete with the more expensive olive oils in oversupply
throughout the Mediterranean countries of the EC.
Data as of December 1988
|