The numbers don't lie: in 2022, around 46 thousand kilos of stolen carob were seized across the Algarve. The topic was controversial, there was almost daily news about the seizures and There was even a demonstration by producers. A year later, the scenario is opposite and thefts have almost disappeared. Why?
O Sul Informação He went looking for answers and found them from those who know best: the producers and those who represent them.
André Coelho, a young producer from the municipality of Loulé, explains, in just one sentence, what is happening: «theft is no longer profitable».
«Thefts have decreased due to the scarcity of product and the value of carob beans at the moment, which is around 10 euros per arroba [15 kilos]. Last year, it was worth 50 euros", he adds.
In 2022, he says, he was a victim of theft, but this year, with the harvest already finished, this did not happen.
General seizure data, sent to the Sul Informação by GNR, prove the decrease in the number of thefts.
From the 45.952 kilos seized in 2022 (mainly in the municipalities of Castro Marim, Vila Real de Santo António, Silves, Albufeira and Loulé), this increased to 166 kilos this year (data up to 31 August).
Also in 2022, 397 crimes were registered; this year, only 29.
«As the value is so low… what happened is that the market reached a peak that no one expected. Those who use products derived from carob, as the cost reached 50 euros, had to find other alternatives», explains André Coelho to our newspaper.
Added to this is the fact that the production was “manifestly bad”.
«Production dropped a lot, around 50%. This is due to the drought: we have the worst year ever in agriculture in Portugal », he says.
«The carob tree is a rainfed crop. With the exception of some orchards, we already have some backup irrigation, but this irrigation has nothing to do with rainwater. There is no humidity, it hasn't rained for almost eight months, we are in a severe drought and this affects carob production,” he adds.
“In other words, the thefts didn’t happen… but for a bad reason,” he laments.
Horácio Piedade is the president of the Board of Directors of the cooperative Agrupa – Almond and Carob Producers Group, which has 400 members.
In statements to the Sul Informação, the person responsible adds that he was aware of “some thefts”, but all of them “without great significance”.
«Even those who are going to commit the theft think: I'm not going burn to pick up a bunch of carob trees,” he says.
The scourge of carob theft even led to Agrupa organizing a demonstration of carob producers in Loulé in July last year.
Farmers wanted to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the lack of measures to mitigate these thefts.
At the time, a law proposal was made that resulted from a working group, created by the Regional Directorate of Agriculture and Fisheries, which brought together Agrupa, AIDA (Interprofessional Association for the Development of Production and Valorization of Carob), ASAE, the Tax Authority, GNR and AMAL.
This group came up with a proposal that involved the association of a title deed to the act of sale: that is, when carob be sold, it becomes necessary to prove that you are the legitimate owner of this fruit.
One year later, the document… «is still in some drawer».
«I sent a letter three months ago and I hope the Minister of Agriculture responds to me. What she committed to me is not on the ground. If it had been a normal year, we would be here talking about the same thing [thefts] because the minister is impassive and calm in her office", she tells our newspaper.
Horácio Piedade goes further. «If the Government does nothing, we maintain the idea of cutting the EN125, now before the European Elections, because unfortunately politicians only listen to us when votes are at stake», he criticizes.
Otherwise There's even a project going on, against the scourge of carob theft, but which is promoted by the Chamber of Tavira and the GNR and which is based on a platform that will aggregate information about the properties and who has authorization to carry out the harvesting.
For Horácio Guerreiro, it is even counterproductive that the Government does not treat carob trees “with different eyes”.
«The minister must be careful to look at the carob trees in the Algarve because these are trees that benefit the Government in this period of drought. The carob tree does not need much maintenance in terms of water, despite it needing rain, which is why it is a crop for the future", she considers.
In this demonstration last year, there was a strong figure: Macário Correia, former president of the Chambers of Faro and Tavira (PSD) and former Secretary of State for the Environment, current farmer.
Victim of theft in 2022, this year the scenario is completely opposite, as told Sul Informação.
«This year, I have not been the victim of any theft, nor have I heard anything about it around here. Theft obviously has to do with the value of the object: what has no value is not sought after. With carobs at 50 euros, with half a dozen buckets next to a road, money was made. Right now, to make those same buckets, they have to walk twice as long and earn less.», He says.
Production also plummeted.
«Last year, I produced around 3 thousand arrobas – this year, around 1300. There are trees drying out, where the water stress is so great that they enter the wilting quotient and then dry out, something that had not happened the previous year », he reports.
In addition to these difficulties, the price of labor also rose.
«We are not begging for support, we know about the fluctuations, but the truth is that those who work in agriculture have seen the prices of their products falling», he says.
According to the former mayor, the market's biggest problem is «absorbing the seed», which is the «most valuable» of the carob.
«Some experts tell me that there has been a change of direction, on the part of cutting-edge chemical manufacturers, who used carob seed to stabilize chemical processes and who, in the meantime, are looking for an alternative due to the price in recent years» , explains.
The drop in production, the current price, the prospects... everything contributes to Macário Correia's fears.
«I built carob orchards and had a certain hope in them. But now, I see them with concern», he concludes.
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