It takes an avocado tree ten years or more before it gives the first fruit to the farmer who planted and tended it. Ten years is a long time, every single tree that dies before that is a painful loss for the farmer. But in recent weeks, more and more avocado farmers in southern Spain are starting to fell their trees themselves. “After a month without water, they are beyond saving,” José Campos, himself a farmer, told the newspaper Malaga Hoy. The situation for the farmers in the region is “terrible”.
According to the Spanish weather service, the water management year 2021/22 is currently the fourth driest since records began. The other three somewhat drier years were all also in the 21st century. That fits with the assessment that EU experts also came to this week: The current drought in Europe is therefore the worst for half a millennium. Almost half of Europe is threatened by drought. The extreme drought is not only affecting Spanish avocado farmers. But what is happening here also has consequences for supermarket customers further north: Spain’s south is the garden of Europe.
The reservoirs around Malaga are emptying
Avocados are demanding. Actually, they grow in the tropics and subtropics. In the EU, only Andalusia in southern Spain offers good growing conditions for the fruit. But in a year like this, when meteorologists reported record temperatures as early as June and there is no end in sight to the drought, avocado growers actually need four million liters of water per hectare of land, says farmer José Campos. The regional government of Andalusia has just reduced the maximum consumption from two to 1.5 million liters.
Out of necessity, because the reservoirs around Málaga are emptying every week – and according to the weather service, rain is not expected until autumn. The situation at the Viñuela reservoir, which supplies the people in the white villages of the avocado-growing region of La Axarquía with water, is particularly problematic. Its water level is currently less than twelve percent of its capacity; last year it contained around twice as much water at this time.
The La Viñuela reservoir is little more than a large puddle.
(Photo: Jorge Guerrero/AFP)
And it’s not only dramatic here in the south, everywhere in the country, even in the north, the water levels in the reservoirs have dropped lower than they have in decades. With at least one curious side effect: In Galicia, an ancient Roman settlement that normally rests at the bottom of a lake has become accessible again, and north of Barcelona the once flooded church of Sant Romà de Sau reappeared.
There it is again – the church of Sant Romà de Sau in the province of Girona.
(Photo: Josep Lago/AFP)
But very few Spaniards can still get something out of this spectacle. They are feeling the effects of climate change too drastically this year, which could give the capital Madrid a desert climate similar to that in Marrakech by 2050, as researchers predict in a study by ETH Zurich. With views like this, who can still enjoy Roman forts and rediscovered churches? Especially since the food and energy prices in Spain have already risen more significantly than elsewhere because of the Ukraine crisis. Crop failures are now likely to worsen the situation.
The way in which climate change is fueling itself in Spain this year is also explosive: Because the water levels in the reservoirs have dropped drastically, many of the Spanish hydroelectric power plants are no longer working. If they are not providing electricity, the failure must be compensated by burning gas to generate energy. So you’re using more climate-damaging gas, while at the same time climate change is making drought worse.