Avocados are on the march（三月）. For some they are a superfood and lifestyle product, but for others, a product with anything but green credentials（证书）. It's very good to eat. The oil is very good. Minerals, health, excellent. And avocado farming is now also booming in Europe, as seen with these gigantic（巨大的） plantations springing up in southern Portugal（葡萄牙(欧洲西南部国家)）.

  All they can think it's about money, profit. I know that I can live without avocados, but I can't live without water. An avocado tree consumes as much water per day as a family of four, a superthirsty fruit in a country plagued（折磨） by drought. I don't see a reason that we have to say that the avocado is the Godzilla of the water. It's nuts. Matthew Ambrose has fulfilled a lifelong（终身的） dream on the Algav.

  Nine years ago, he opened a guest house, or "kinta", together with his partner, Mira Paishau, here, not far from the Atlantic coast. They invested €650,000 in the property, which includes four guest rooms. Matthew and Mira regularly have returning guests, but fear this might all soon change. I was in the UK and I was working（使工作） like crazy. I ran bars and restaurants, and it all became too much and I needed to change my life. I ended up in hospital, had a fairly major breakdown（故障） mentally and physically from stress and overwork, and I had to change my life. So many years ago we discovered this area of Portugal while travelling, and we sort of fell in love with it.

  As you can see, it's a fantastic property. We enjoy putting work into it. The daily upkeep（维持） is no trouble at all for us. It's a joy to work here seven days a week. So this is our little paradise of water that comes down from a natural spring up in the field up there and flows down here, and this is just a little paradise for birds, for insects. This little spring is of huge importance for Matthew and Mira.

  It supplies the water they need for the animals and for their guest house. The lack of a main water supply has not been a problem until recently. Now there's a serious danger looming（可怕地出现） on the horizon（地平线）. The big threat is because the avocado plantation were given（做） licenses for boreholes when there were supposed to be no more licenses being given（做）, but they got three for three boreholes, and they've dug a borehole about 100 metres up here, straight up from this stream, and if that starts pumping（用抽机抽） for the amount of water they're going to use, I'm just really worried it's going to dry out the aquifer（ 含水土层） that obviously supplies this stream. That new danger is an avocado monoculture being developed practically in the backyard of Matthew's Kinta. A company called Inspiring（鼓舞人心的） Farms is planting 26,000 trees for artificial irrigation on an area the size of 80 football pitches and counting.

  This used to be grazing（放牧） land for cattle（牛）. We have made a couple of attempts to ask the manager to come and say hello and create a little bit of communication, so we get some assurance（确信） of things that are happening, but they don't seem to have any... they're not interested, are they? The camera crew's presence hasn't gone unnoticed（不被注意的） by the plantation owner. It's a question of neighbourly manners. Precisely.

  If there's a problem, just tell my secretary that you want to talk to me and just come by. I'm always here. So what's the problem? I don't want to see you cause any trouble. You got that? No consideration to, you know, anyone else around.

  The Algav is a traditional vacation region, including coastal（海滨的） resorts like Faro and Lagos. And it's now also a highly attractive location for avocado farmers. Avocados originally hail（冰雹） from Mexico. Until recently, the European market was mainly supplied from Israel（以色列（亚洲国家）） and Central and South America. But now the fruit is being increasingly farmed closer to home, thriving（兴旺） as it does in the warm climate of southern Europe. Avocados yield（屈服） four times the profit margin of the oranges and lemons traditionally grown in the region.

  But the monoculture farming has come under criticism worldwide due to the negative impact on the environment and, in particular, the fruit's high water consumption. In springtime（春天）, southern Portugal（葡萄牙(欧洲西南部国家)） bursts（使爆裂） into colour, but the country has been struggling for years with water shortages. Soon the intense summer heat will scorch（烧焦） the vegetation（[植]植被）. Every year the region faces the threat of wildfires. In 2020, they raised 65,000 hectares（公顷） of land, claiming the lives of several dozen people and destroying hundreds of houses. Virginia Ratae is a local association founded by people living next to two avocado plantations outside Lagos.

  Its members want to prevent the creation of further large-scale farms. The group is headed by two women from Germany. Aneta Klassen is an architect who immigrated 21 years ago. Eileen Grushka has been here for four years now and runs a small farm. It's actually agriculture that connects us. We all have little farm operations and are aware of the water problems here.

  Some of the wells（井） are drying up and the boreholes too. Avocado trees need 50 or 60 litres of water a day, so projecting that for the two plantations here, that's three and a half million litres of water every single day. Claudia Seal（封蜡） works（使工作） for the Marine and Environmental Research Department of the University of Al Gave. The association has invited the bioengineer to share her findings about the situation in the region. Together they want to recruit new data to further the fight against the avocado growers（种植者）. The avocado is a tropical tree.

  Its water consumption is disproportionately high for a region already at risk of desertification（（土壤）荒漠化） like the Algarve. Plus, the trees are planted in monocultures, so the high water consumption is accompanied by the use of pesticides（杀虫剂）. Claudia Seal is here to find out more on the ground. Cork（软木橡树皮） oaks and pine trees typical for the region had to be cleared for this plantation, which belongs to the Frutinev's company. At the same time, public roads and paths were privatized practically overnight. You can see how they seal off their property and try to protect their plants.

  It looks like some high-security prison. The company has installed a drip irrigation system. On frosty（结霜的） winter nights, the trees have to be additionally watered with sprinklers. Today the local activists（积极分子） talk to Awakim, a smallholder based right next to the plantation, and deeply worried about developments. I grow some watermelon and some other stuff here using a petrol pump, but then I decided to stop this year because the level of water you could see the marks like it used to be.