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Huerta de Murcia's history

The Huerta de Murcia is a valley where the River Segura flows and whose flood during Quaternary has settled a fertile riverbed for crops. The deposition of the River Guadalentín which flows into the Segura downstream from the city of Murcia has contributed to the creation of the Huerta. The first prehistoric settlers didn't live in the valley because of the wetlands and the high risk of floods, so we can find argaric remains in the mountain slopes surrounding the Segura valley.

View of the Huerta de Murcia from Cabezo Bermejo in Cobatillas. In the background you can see Sierra de la Cresta del Gallo, Columbares and Carrascoy, the Castle of Monteagudo, the head of El Esparragal, the head la Mina and the city of Murcia at the back .

Although the Romans already cultivated in the Huerta de Murcia, the muslims were the ones who drained the wetlands and created an effective irrigation and a drainage system based on the dam know as the Contraparada.

After the Reconquest of Murcia by Alfonso X, called the Wise, many muslims moved to Granada and many lands of the Huerta were abandoned. The king Alfonso divided the beds into small areas, giving rise to the smallholding.

At the end of the Reconquest, in the 16th century, an important agricultural development took place after the introduction of the orange tree, the mulberry tree and the silk industry. During that century many important hydraulic construction as the jetty, the suppression of the meanders of the river, the channeling of some stretches and irrigation canals and finally the building of the waterwheels that carried water to elevated beds for its irrigation.

From the end of the 20th century the agricultural potential o the Huerta de Murcia has suffered a decline. There are many causes, but among them the following could stand out:

• The constant subdivision of the beds makes them so small that they aren't profitable especially due to the problems with commercialization. Moreover, it increases the lack of profitability, as the beds are so small that they aren't enough to the professional agricultural activity.

• Urban development pressure. The use of the beds for the building of new infrastructures (trunk roads, industrial estates, railway, etc) and flats is increasing.

• Ageing of the small amount of farmers left. The vast majority of the residents of the Huerta don't work in it, they work basically in the service sector in the city or its districts.

• Low price of the citrus fruits for years. In the Huerta this is the main type of farming together with vegetables.

Another areas of the Region of Murcia, such as the Campo de Cartagena, Valley of Guadalentín, Mazarrón, Águilas, etc. have overcome to the traditional Huerta de Murcia as the most important agricultural area with the water of the Tagus-Segura Water Transfer by the end of the 70s and the beginning of the 80s. These areas -except the Guadalentín- were non-irrigated lands traditionally (less productive than the irrigated ones) and they have a more appropriate ownership structure (medium and large ownership) very different from the smallholding of the Huerta de Murcia.