Tuesday, May 30, 2023
The permanent humidity of the earth during the last two weeks is ending up spoiling the melon and watermelon crops that still resisted in the Guadalentín Valley. To the millionaire losses due to the hail on May 13th are now added those caused by the hail that yesterday unloaded in another intense storm in almost the same area, affecting several hundred hectares. It was confirmed to LA VERDAD by the president of Coag in Lorca, Plácido Pérez-Chuecos, who assured that the production most affected by the humidity of the earth is melon. “The watermelon is holding up longer, although the plants are sick but cannot be treated because it rains every day” and the water washes away the used product, he explained.
He pointed out that summer crops need a drier climate and heat for the fruit to develop in optimal conditions, but weather forecasts suggest that the rains will last for at least another week. “This continuous humidity will end the productions,” lamented the leader of Coag. Faced with this situation, the melon “will set poorly and its caliber will be small” and the only hope farmers have is that the market price continues to rise due to the scarcity of this summer fruit to compensate for a very bad campaign. Pérez-Chuecos acknowledged that “when it starts to thunder we don’t sleep for fear of hail”, which yesterday “opened another gap in the field. It’s another disaster,” he said.
Rainfed crops are the only ones that have benefited from the May rains, which have been “salvation” for the almond and pistachio trees, since the trees were about to dry out, and also for the vine, he told THE TRUTH José Antonio Baraza, farmer from the district of Doña Inés. 70% of the almond production has been lost but “we have come out of a very delicate moment” in which the trees were at risk.
They record losses of 3.6 million euros due to the hail
Coag has registered 72 requests for aid for damages derived from the hailstorm of May 13, which affect 270 hectares, for a value of 2.8 million euros, its president in Lorca, Plácido Pérez Chuecos, informed LA VERDAD. To these must be added the requests recorded in the office set up by the City Council in the Marchena social center, in which 63 requests for damages to 263 hectares of crops were registered, totaling 830,000 euros in losses. Pérez-Chuecos trusted that the call for general elections and the formation of the new regional government will not stop the granting of aid promised by the hailstorm. The mayor-elect, Fulgencio Gil, who yesterday visited the crops damaged by the new hailstorm, insisted on the need to declare the area catastrophic and to articulate the necessary aid for farmers.
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