In the region of the Mid-Almanzora, in the North of the province of Almeria, there are excellent conditions for the production of fruit and vegetables, and especially for the production of ORGANIC citruses. This is due to the fact that the incidence of plagues in general terms and the necessity to treat the crops postharvest is less frequent than in other production areas.
The production of citruses in the area has developed since the 50s, when the subsistence agriculture, typical of "la vega" (area of low-lying fertile land) and based on the production of vegetables, cereals and fodder was gradually substituted by the growing of citruses, especially orange and lemon trees.
Al-Arbuli came into being in response to the necessity of the small and medium-sized farmers from the region to unify and improve the marketing structures for their fruit and vegetables and also with the aim of keeping their farms profitable and not being forced to leave them.
From the Cooperative we actively promote the ORGANIC agriculture in the region and our aim is to take advantage of the traditional agriculture still practised by most of the local farmers. We want to combine it with the new and controlled ORGANIC agriculture because both practices use the local natural resources in a sustainable way. They also preserve the biological diversity and provide locally grown fruit, which is natural, healthful and comes from a well-known origin and a particular socio-cultural tradition.
"Al-Arbuli" is the name of a writer who lived in Arboleas in the "nazari" times (13th-15th centuries) He was the author of a "Treatise on Food" whose original, which has been translated from Arabic into Spanish recently, can be found in the National Library in Madrid.
Al-Arbuli Sdad Coop Andalusian is a project that it tries to contribute to conserve the fragile ecosystem Rio Almanzora, threatened by the gradual abandonment of the agricultural activity that has traditionally contributed to conserve it, by the implantation of agricultural practices that decrease the biodiversity, contaminate and impoverish culture grounds and accentuate the erosion processes, as well as by the attempts of deviation of the limited hydric resources of the region towards other zones of intensive agricultural production.
