Crops could be lost, say worried farmers
Late spring rain more important than ever for agriculture and the countryside
ALICANTE farmers are facing a calamity due to the shortage of rainfall and high temperatures.
The dry winter and spring has meant that some crops could be lost completely – and will only be partially saved if precipitation does finally arrive in the coming weeks.
The worst affected fields are those which do not have irrigation – the ‘secano’ crops (rain-fed agriculture or ‘dry farming’) – such as cereals, almonds and olives.
Valencia president Ximo Puig spoke of the ‘agonising drought’ that the region is suffering, saying he was increasingly worried by the situation.
“The drought that we are suffering is very intense,” he said.
“If the situation does not change in the coming months we could have difficulties across the board – not just for irrigating crops but for tap water.”
President of La Pedrera cooperative in Torremendo (Orihuela), Daniel Martínez said that they only need just over 100 litres per square metre (l/m2) of rain to maintain their almond plantations.
However, they have only
had a third of that and ‘the rain is not coming’.
He predicted that they could lose around 90% of their crop and they may even have to pull up the trees and replant them.
With this year almost written off, they need rain soon, ‘because if we don’t have it, then we will lose next year’s harvest and the one after that’.
The situation for almond trees in the Vega Baja is worse than for citrus fruits and artichokes because the latter crops are irrigated, while almond plantations are based on dry farming, he noted.
In Alcoy cereal farmers are in the same boat.
Manager of the firm Ferri Agrícola, Ricardo Ferri told state news agency EFE that their crop is almost ‘totally lost’.
Even if it does rain, they could only save a maximum of 15%, he said.
Sr Ferri said it was a ‘total disaster’, with the municipalities of Castalla and Onil expecting to lose 100% of their crops.
Although cereal production in Alicante is likely to be near zero, any further rise in prices ‘will depend a lot on what happens in Ukraine’.
At the moment grain boats are reaching the ports of Cartagena and Tarragona, so Spain will depend on these imports.
Temperatures set to go up
Farmers will be lamenting that there is no chance of meaningful rainfall on the horizon for Alicante province.
Although, there is a low probability of showers tomorrow (Saturday) in the north of the province, a widespread increase in temperatures has been forecasted for next week.