The group known as Leader, of the Pitiusas, has made use of the European funds for rural development to work on the recovery of local produce varieties of the Pitiusas countrysides, their study and the promotion of their consumption, which has increased due to the pandemic. The organisation has renewed its entire seed bank and the area cultivated in 2020 with these varieties increasing by 277% compared to 2018.
The Grupo de Acción Local de Ibiza y Formentera (Local Action Group of Ibiza and Formentera, Leader Group) implemented in 2020 a set of activities aimed at the conservation and enhancement of local varieties of agricultural interest in the Pitiusas, precisely in a year that seemed to be a turning point to recover the value of the local product and the rural world.
The work was presented yesterday at Finca Can Marines, on the road to Sant Carles, by Marta Mallach, Leader’s local variety recovery and conservation technician; Marina Morán, the organisation’s local variety promotion technician; and on the institutional side, Joan Marí, president of the group and, in turn, island director of the Consell de Ibiza’s Rural and Marine Environment Department.
Working for a “self-sufficient” countryside | PHOTOS BY TONI ESCANDELL
The work of this entity has followed three different lines: the recovery of local varieties, their improvement and agronomic analysis and the promotion of their consumption, which has increased as a result of the health crisis. In addition, in 2020 the area cultivated with local varieties increased in Ibiza and Formentera by 277% compared to 2018.
Working for a “self-sufficient” countryside | PHOTO JUAN A. RIERA
In Can Marines, conservation actions have been carried out on the contents from the Pitiusas seed bank: “Between the beginning of 2019 and the end of 2020 we have renovated practically the entire bank,” Mallach explained. It currently has 385 different entries and 77 Pitiusan varieties, which means, with respect to 2019, an increase of ten varieties that were believed to be extinct in the farm’s bank including the striped watermelon, the pear tomato or the flat bean, to name a few.
Working for a “self-sufficient” countryside.
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