The farmer union He informs that the storms accompanied by Granizo on Thursday affected a radius close to 10,000 hectares of cultivation of the regions of the Camp de Túria, La Serranía, La Vall d’Albaida, La Costera, the Canal de Navarrés and Utiel-Requena in the province of Valencia and the Plana Baixa in that of Castellón.
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In an initial emergency estimate, losses could be exceeding 4 million euros.
Agricultural production in all these affected areas is very diverse with cereal cultivation, almond trees, olive groves, vegetables, citrus, qua, fruit trees, vineyards and some nurseries.
The greatest damage is concentrated in the regions of the mountain range, with two very affected locations such as Pedralba and Villar del Arzobispo, and in that of the Vall d’Albaida; Especially in Malferit, Alfarrasí, Atzeneta d’Albaida, Carrícola, Guadsséquies, L’olleria, Lluchent, Otos and La Pobla del Duc.
In this last region it rains on wet and the damage adds to the storms last Saturday that occurred in these same locations and in others. In the Plana Baixa Castellón the damage focuses on citrus plots.
The biggest condition focuses on bone fruit, since the Pedrisco has impacted very negatively, however small its hail its impact produces marks that at the moment almost about the collection cause the rot of the fruit and only with the rains now causes the dreaded cracking or partisan of the skin.
-As regards citrus, the Pedrisco has left very pronounced marks in some cases that possibly cause the fall of the fruit and those that do not fall will be marked not to be commercial. In the almond trees, the fruits will be marked and possibly their caliber and quality of those that are in the tree are reduced, in addition to throwing almonds to the ground.
In the cultivation of the chaqui it is still early to analyze the damage, but damage is already observed both in the fruit and in the outbreaks that are currently very tender and can affect the future wood of the tree, in addition to production. The same goes for vine. Vegetables have suffered a lot since it is a very tender and sensitive product that in many cases is starting growth. As for the olive grove, this year a good harvest was expected by appreciating a great flowering that will also be affected by these storms.
The Unió notes that these weather adversities are covered by the current agricultural insurance system and will ask Agroseguro to expedite the peritations of the affected plots as much as possible. The organization will also claim for the affected people the granting of direct aid, the condonation of the IBI of the cultivated plots and constructions present in them, the bonus of the social security fees for a year, the establishment of loans with subsidized interest and also a series of actions and aid for the affected marketing cooperatives.
On the other hand, the rains fallen in other areas where Pedrisco did not fall yesterday, are beneficial for all crops, except for the bone fruit that is close to the maturation and point of the collection to which this type of tormentous rainfall causes the cracked of the fruit and its useless for sale.
The rains also suppose a saving of irrigation with the upward power and the recharge of water reserves (reservoirs and aquifers), as well as a regeneration of pastures and rafts for extensive livestock that would avoid the serious problems that were lived throughout the last year. The rains can also clean the trees in the face of possible pests or diseases.
