The data collected in the 2023 Report of the IbizaPreservation Sustainability Observatory also show a decrease in the total Useful Agricultural Area of the island
Ibiza, 26-09-24 – This Thursday marks World Environmental Health Day, an event that the IbizaPreservation Sustainability Observatory has taken advantage of to report that the Useful Agricultural Area (SAU) in organic has increased in Ibiza by 75% in just three years, going from 792 hectares to 1,385 in 2023. Compared to the total SAU of the island (which also includes non-organic productions), the Organic SAU has gone from comprising 8.8% of the total in 2020 to 18% in 2023. This is stated in the IbizaPreservation 2023 Sustainability Report, funded by the Ibiza Island Council and which is currently in the development phase, thanks to the Updated SAU data for 2023 provided by the Institute of Research and Training Agro-food and Fisheries of the Balearic Islands (IRFAP) and those collected by the Balearic Council for Organic Agricultural Production (CBPAE).
Despite the good organic data, the Sustainability Observatory has also highlighted the decrease in the total Useful Agricultural Area of Ibiza, which has occurred in cultivated land and permanent pasture land . Between 2014 and 2016, a sharp decrease was recorded, going from 26,579 ha to 7,413. After a slight increase in 2020 (9,019 ha), the SAU remained stable, but between 2022 and 2023 it has decreased again, going from 8,870 ha to 7,754 last year, according to IRFAP data.
From the Ibiza Sustainability Observatory, its coordinator, Elisa Langley, has recalled the vital importance of transforming Ibiza’s agriculture and agricultural area to organic systems . “There is a direct relationship between organic production and environmental health, since this type of agriculture produces sustainable food products that provide better health to the local community without causing damage to the environment,” explains the coordinator of the Observatory, who has emphasized that “organic products are foods free of chemicals and other alterations and are produced in a way that is respectful of wildlife.” “In addition, their development slows desertification, promotes biodiversity and contributes to the fight against air and soil pollution, with a lower carbon footprint, while helping to retain water,” she adds.
Far from the objective
From the Sustainability Observatory they also celebrate that, as already made public by the CBPAE in June of this year , in all the municipalities of the island there has been an increase in the amount of land registered as organic farming when comparing 2023 and 2022. The municipality that registered the greatest increase was Sant Antoni, with 22.8% (56.00 ha), followed by Sant Josep, with 9.6% (42.00 ha), Santa Eulalia, with 2% (7.00 ha), and Sant Joan, with 0.4% (1.00 ha). Eivissa , which in 2022 lost the hectares it had registered, continues without hectares in 2023.
In this sense, the Observatory recalls that the European strategy “From Farm to Fork ” sets as a central objective that organic production reaches 25% of SAU by 2030 . The latest data show that the main crops are all showing an upward trend. The main crop is pasture and fodder (27%), followed by forests and wild harvesting (23%), fallow land and green manure (13.6%), cereals and legumes (8%), nuts (10%), olive groves and vineyards (4% respectively) and, finally, vegetables, tubers (3%) and fruit trees (3%). For its part, the most notable livestock production in 2023 was organic poultry farming , the value of which has tripled, going from 2,573 in 2022 to 7,684 individuals in 2023, a large part of which corresponds to the production of organic chicken meat on the island. Likewise, during 2023 in Ibiza there were no changes in the number of operators in organic farming, with a total of 115 producers and 44 processors registered, which does not show significant changes compared to 2022, when 112 producers and 46 processors were registered.
Currently, the Balearic Islands as a whole have 20% of Useful Organic Agricultural Area, which is why the technical coordinator of the Sustainability Observatory indicates that “it is important to focus on each island to reach the target of 25% independently and, to do so, we need Ibiza to stop decreasing the hectares of useful agricultural area and for the ecological use of these to continue to grow”.
Finally, Langley has warned that, “although the increase in annual organic SAU is acquiring a positive trend, the island of Ibiza continues to have one of the lowest percentage at the Balearic level , with 18% , while in Mallorca this percentage reaches 20% , in Menorca 21% and the neighbouring island of Formentera is at the bottom with 17%.
