This year has been a terrible year for watermelon farmers with fifty per cent less reaching the market than last year. The reason for this decline has been due to a lack of water in many areas, the high salt content of the irrigation water and the transport strike in June. The lack of water and poor quality of what there is has resulted in the watermelons cultivated not reaching a suitable size for the market meaning that many haven't even been picked, being left in the fields to rot or be eaten by goats and sheep. As if this weren't enough the transport strike came at a time of peak production, affecting 20 per cent of the watermelon production in the Levante area. This also caused a steep drop in the price which has not recovered since then. Producers are now getting 12 to 20 cents a kilo on a product which sells for about one euro a kilo in the supermarkets.
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