Galicia and Asturias focus on tropical fruits with plenty of vitamin C

Although consumption Vitamin C It is usually associated with oranges. There are other fruits and vegetables that contain more of this nutrient than the aforementioned citrus fruits, such as broccoli, papaya, guava or red peppers.

However, there is one that provides 85% of the required intake of this vitamin per day, it is none other than kiwi. “Vitamin C helps protect cells from oxidative damage. In addition to ascorbic acid, other vitamins and minerals are present in this food, although in much smaller proportions,” notes the Spanish Nutrition Foundation (FEN).

Although this fruit is native to China and the plant began to be cultivated, especially in New Zealand, in the 1930s, it has also been widely cultivated in Spain since 1969.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Spanish kiwifruit production in 2022 was 28,700 tons. In Spain, kiwi cultivation began in 1969 in Pontevedra, which remains one of the main producers.

The province produces more than 7,000 tons of kiwi every year. Pontevedra, which is the main producer in Spain.stands behind it To A Coruna, which exceeds 5,000 tons of kiwi per year. A total of 16,000 tons per year are produced in Galicia alone, which is the main production area of ​​this tropical fruit with 87 farms dedicated to the cultivation of these fruits, strawberries and blueberries.

This autonomous community is followed by Asturias, which has more than 200 hectares of crops dedicated to this fruit and annually produces about 3,500 tons of kiwi. In recent years, they have been joined by the Valencian Community, which also encourages the production of this fruit.

However, national production figures are very far from import figures, since Spain is the main importer of kiwifruit. In 2022, Spain’s kiwifruit imports totaled approximately 140,300 tons, representing a drop of approximately 19,000 tons compared to 2021, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.