64% of Jimena's cork growers did not harvest

Orange groves also impacted by drought

JIMENA The municipality depends largely on its agriculture, a very large proportion of which is cork oak and citrus, both sectors which are in deep trouble. This naturally impacts the families that depend on the work in the groves and on the mountainsides. The summer cork harvest goes a long way to keeping food on the table of many for the rest of the year, and the same applies to the winter citrus harvest. But this year, according to the PSOE, which is asking for government subsidies to help out at this gruesome time, some 4,100 work days have been lost in the cork harvest alone because 64% of the municipality's growers have been unable to strip their trees because of the long hot summer that came after a very dry winter. Some 26 tons of cork remain on the trees this year. (See How did that cork get in your bottle?)