Climate disruption: in Occitania, pomegranate cultivation ready to explode

Some compare its juicy arils to rubies. Boosted by the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties attributed to it, pomegranate cultivation is gaining ground, particularly among farmers in Occitanie. Harvested after summer, this thick-skinned fruit proves to be an interesting means of diversification and an alternative to growing vines.

“I got into the pomegranate business in 2012. I started with 150 trees and today I have 600. From the handful of producers at the beginning, there are now almost 400. Of the 1,000 tonnes produced each year in France, Occitanie makes the biggest share,” reports Pierre Colin.

“Varieties adapted to our climate”

Based in Pomerols (Hérault), this winegrower became the president of the Federation of Southern Pomegranate Producers. “At the time, you could find pomegranate juice especially in organic stores and you have to admit that it was a little harsh. With a handful of colleagues, we went looking for varieties adapted to our climate and which, once assembled, would make pleasant-to-drink juices. We found them in Spain, Israel, California and Provence.”

After creating the collective brand Grenade Occitanie France in 2022, the producers of this emerging sector want to move up a gear. Given the context of the acute wine crisis, they received financial support from the State on February 24 during the Agricultural Show.

A few kilometers from Clermont-l’Hérault, Jacques Beauclair, also a winegrower and pomegranate producer, will launch the manufacture of a juice processing and bottling unit. “We must be ready for the 2027 harvest. Producers will thus have two sites, the first being located in Thuir in the Pyrénées-Orientales.”

Targeted mass distribution

But there is no question of encouraging the planting of pomegranate trees without first ensuring that they can sell the fruits. “In our project called Filière Grenade Occitanie, a research component with the Center for International Cooperation in Agricultural Research (CIRAD) is planned as well as market studies which will be carried out by the Hérault Chamber of Agriculture. If we don’t do this, we will be ready to tear everything out in ten years,” warns Jacques Beauclair.

On the CIRAD side, the objective will be to work on the “co-products” of the pomegranate, what we can get from them and how to optimize the transformation processes to preserve as much as possible the nutritional qualities and health benefits of the pomegranate.

In terms of marketing, you have to look for long circuits, that is to say mass distribution. “For the moment, we mainly sell fresh fruit directly, but if we manage to structure the sector, juice production could then become more important,” analyzes Jacqueline Reig, producer of organic pomegranates in Bouleternère (Pyrénées-Orientales). “Especially since mass distribution is showing more and more interest,” notes Pierre Colin. Today it is a very competitive market with many imports. It’s up to us to make the difference in terms of quality. »