Globally recognized for its lemons, Menton faced significant losses in 2020. The culprit was COVID-19, and more specifically, a confinement that lasted far too long for the producers.
“A real waste.” The lemon producers of Menton are saddened by the sight of numerous fruits lying at the foot of the trees, dried out over time. No less than 10 tons of these citrus fruits, representing 20% of the production shared by Menton, Castellar, Gorbio, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, and Saint-Agnès, are no longer consumable. The reason? A confinement lasting several weeks. The harvest, which takes place in spring, was disrupted during these eight weeks, leaving no one to tend to the local lemon trees.
According to Stéphane Constantin, a member of the Association for the Promotion of the Menton Lemon, it was the worst possible time to enforce a national confinement: “Unfortunately, the peak harvest occurs right in the middle of March. It literally blocked the entire harvesting phase, and the companies that bought the fruits from the producers closed down.”
It is worth noting that during the confinement, the Lemon Festival was canceled for 2020. It was a challenging year for the border town, which relies heavily on this citrus fruit to shine globally.
