The study sets out the strategic framework for the 2014-2020 period and begins by highlighting how “small fruits are in fashion” with the raspberry termed the ‘queen’ of this success.
The report also shows how Portugal has steadily progressed in this sector with the amount of land under berry cultivation in the 1980s ranked as insignificant contrasting with the expansion to 1,300 hectares in 2013 which has driven an annualised doubling in export revenues, with the €64 million in raspberry export revenues coming in behind only the long established pear export market valued at €88 million in 2013.
Portugal saw production take off following the arrival of the American grower Driscoll’s, the world leader in red berries that established a partnership with the Agricultural Institute in the 1990s to build up production.
“Zambujeira, on the Alentejo coast is the California of Europe and that is what brought us here,” said Nuno Madureira Simões, the head of the company’s Portugal operation that spans its own two estates as well as working with independent producers.
Madureira Simões said the company accounted for €50 million in berry exports in 2014 and its production network ensured some 3,500 direct jobs and itself represents a major employer, particularly in the Alentejo region.