Valpaços, Portugal, Oct. 29, 2024 (Lusa) - Chestnut growers Lusa spoke to on Tuesday point to a year of falling production in the Padrela mountain area in Valpaços and growing difficulties in paying for labour and treatments in the groves.

"The harvest is very poor, I think mine will be around 30% and, like me, most farmers must have this problem," said Hernâni Sousa, 63, who was picking chestnuts at one of the entrances to the village of São João da Corveira, near Carrazedo de Montenegro, Valpaços, in the district of Vila Real.

The producer points to unfavourable weather conditions as the cause of the chestnut's development. "It's a fruit that's increasingly sensitive, but the worst thing is the late summer fogs," he said, noting that flowering was poor and the summer was hot and dry.

Storm Kirk brought strong winds to the region, but that "was the least of it", although it did knock over green fruit and broke branches and trees.

"The influence of the weather is increasingly important in what you harvest. Our ancestors used to say that chestnut trees only needed an axe and a plough, but now they require a huge amount of treatment, which is very expensive," emphasised this producer, who has around 900 chestnut trees.

His average production is around "16 to 17 tonnes", but last year's harvest didn't exceed 10 tonnes and this year he's looking at "three tonnes", although he stresses that the quality "is very good" and that it "sells well".

He picks with three women and says that they are enough for this harvest.

 Carlos Paiva is 55 years old, lives in Porto, and takes his holidays to pick chestnuts, which he then sells in the city. He only expects to harvest around 40% of his usual production.

He does the work himself and will be helped by his children at the weekend. Lusa found him in São João da Corveira a few minutes after arriving from Porto but sets to work with gloves and a bucket in his hand.

He has around a hundred chestnut trees, from which he has harvested 1.2 tonnes. "Last year I picked 700 kilos, the year before I only picked 800," he said.

Carlos Paiva believes the fruit's yield has fallen in recent years because "there are many diseases associated with it", pointing to canker, the chestnut gall wasp and chestnut rot. "There's no encouragement now," he lamented.

Discouragement seems to be common among producers in this region.

In Sobrado, Liberal Gonçalves, 67, waits for the three labourers he brings to the harvest and said that "there were years when there were 10 to 12 people".

He said thatthe income he gets from the groves is getting smaller and smaller.

"This year is bad. Initially, it was very hot, and the chestnuts didn't grow, and then that wind blew half of them to the ground. Last year was bad, but this year will be even worse," he said.

He used to harvest 20 tonnes, but this year he won't reach three tonnes, even though it's of "good quality".

This retired former immigrant has "several hundred chestnut trees", but because many dry up, he replants an "average of 200 trees" a year.

Agostinho Luís, 61, harvests chestnuts in the village of Padrela and said the year "is very weak", predicting a drop in production of around 85%.

"For me, this was the weather. It's been like this for four or five years," said the producer, whose main source of income is chestnuts but who regrets having to go “to the old man” to his cash reserves to make ends meet.

 In one day's work, he picked four bags of chestnuts.  "I have always had other people to work with me, but this year, it's not worth it. It's just me and my wife," he said.

In 2023, he harvested 300 bags, and in 2024, he predicts he won't have 100.

The rot that affected the fruit last year caused the price to drop, but this year, Agostinho Luís has already sold a kilo at three euros and emphasised that the sale is guaranteed.

"Chestnuts are good, but there are few of them," said septuagenarian Manuel Alves, from Balugas, in Vila Pouca de Aguiar, who emphasised that apart from the disease, production “is still better than it was in 2023”.

Because of his health, this year he decided to give half of his production to someone else who will help him harvest.

He lives between France and Balugas, and despite seeing more and more chestnut trees drying up, he refuses to give up and continues to plant new trees.

PLI/ADB // ADB.

Lusa